The  Missouri  Historical 

Review 

Volume  X  Januart,  1916  Number  2 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Lincoln  and  Missouri                   Page 
Walter  B.  Stevens 63 

Historical  Articles  in   Missouri 
Newspapers 120 

Notes  and  Documents 127 

Historical  News  and  Comments  132 


Published  Quarterly  by 

THE  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 
OF  MISSOURI 

COLUMBIA 

Entered  as  second-class  mail  matter  at  Columbia,  Missouri,  July  i8,  1907 


THE  MISSOURI  HISTORICAL  REVIEW 

FLOYD  C.  SHOEMAKER,  Editor 


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The  Missouri  Historical  Review  is  a  quarterly  magazine  de- 
voted to  Missouri  history,  genealogy  and  literature.  It  is  now 
being  sent  to  a  thousand  members  of  the  Society.  The  subscrip- 
tion price  is  one  dollar  a  year. 

Each  number  of  the  Review  contains  several  articles  on  Mis- 
souri and  Missourians.  These  articles  are  the  result  of  research 
work  in  Missouri  history.  They  treat  of  subjects  that  lovers  of 
Missouri  are  interested  in.  They  are  full  of  new  information  and 
are  not  hackneyed  or  trite.  The  style  of  presentation  is  as  popular 
as  is  permissible  in  a  publication  of  this  character. 

In  addition  to  the  monographs,  the  Review  contains  a  list  of 
books  recently  published  by  Missourians  or  on  Missouri,  and  a 
list  of  Missouri  historical  articles  that  have  appeared  in  the  news- 
papers of  the  State.  The  last  is  an  aid  to  teachers,  editors  and 
writers,  and  will  become  even  more  valuable  with  age. 

Departing  from  the  custom  adopted  by  most  historical  socie- 
ties, this  journal  contains  re\aews  of  only  those  books  and  articles 
that  relate  to  Missouri.  This  concentration  makes  possible  a 
more  thorough  and,  to  Missourians,  a  more  interesting  and  valu- 
able historical  contribution  than  could  otherwise  be  obtained. 

Missourians  are  interested  in  their  State  Historical  Society. 
The  Review  appeals  to  this  interest  by  summarizing  the  recent  ac- 
tivities of  the  Society.  It  also  dbes  this  of  other  state-wide  organ- 
izations of  a  historical  or  patriotic  character.  Important  histori- 
cal happenings  are  also  chronicled  and  members  of  the  Society 
are  urged  to  make  this  complete  for  their  section  of  Missouri.  The 
general  Missouri  items  include  biographical  sketches  of  individuals 
in  public  life  or  of  historic  fame. 

Manuscripts  and  letters  on  all  Missouri  subjects  of  a  his- 
torical or  biographical  nature  are  welcome,  and  wiU  be  read  and 
decided  upon  with  as  little  delay  as  possible. 

All  editorial  and  business  communications  should  be  addressed 
to  Floyd  C.  Shoemaker,  Secretary,  The  State  Historical  Society  of 
Missouri,  Columbia,  Missouri. 


'  7  Z./AJ(0(LAJ     /  >-r\^ 


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The  Missouri  Historical 

Review 

Vol  X,  No.  2  Columbia  January,  1916 

LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURL^ 

Walter  B.  Stevens. 

This  is  the  narrative  of  "Lincoln  and  Missouri."  The  relation- 
ship was  intimate  and  continuous  for  eight  years.  It  meant  much  to 
Mr.  Lincoln.  On  Missouri  the  President  depended  for  the  effectiveness 
of  his  border  states  policy.  That  policy  he  believed  was  vital  to  the  sal- 
vation of  the  Union. 

1857—1860. 

On  the  7th  of  April,  1857,  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Francis 
P.  Blair  were  conferring  at  Springfield.  With  that  date 
begins  this  narrative  of  "Lincoln  and  Missouri."  The  time 
was  four  years  before  the  Civil  War.  Buchanan  had  been 
inaugurated  the  preceding  month.  Lincoln  had  come  back 
to  political  activity.  He  had  shaped  the  formation  of  the 
Republican  party  of  Illinois.  He  had  suggested  the  can- 
didate for  governor  and  that  candidate  had  been  elected, — 
Bissell  of  Belleville.  Frank  Blair  had  advanced  from  local 
politics  to  the  national  field.  He  was  entering  upon  his 
first  term  in  Congress. 

There  were  other  circumstances  which  made  the  con- 
ference of    these    two    men    significant.      In    March    Chief 

1.     Read  by  the  author  at  the  Annual  Dinner  of  the  State  Historical 
Society  of  Missoiu-i,  December  10,  1915. 
Copyrighted  January,  1916. 

(63) 


66  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

divided  against  itself  can  not  stand.  Neither  was  an  aboli- 
tionist. Neither  was  anti-slavery  in  the  moral  sense  that 
inspired  the  northerners.  But  viewing  the  issue  as  the  great 
political  and  economic  question  which  must  be  settled 
peaceably,  both  of  them  looked  for  the  solution  in  the  border 
States  with  Missouri  as  the  key  to  the  solution. 

About  the  time  of  the  conference,  Mrs.  Lincoln  wrote  to 
her  sister  in  Kentucky: 

"Although  Mr.  Lincoln  is,  or  was,  a  Fremont  man,  you 
must  not  include  him  with  so  many  of  those  who  belong  to 
that  party,  an  abolitionist.  In  principle  he  is  far  from  it. 
All  he  desires  is  that  slavery  shall  not  be  extended.  Let  it 
remain  where  it  is." 

Also,  about  the  time  of  the  conference  there  appeared 
in  Missouri  an  authorized  biographical  sketch  of  Blair  which 
defined  his  position: 

"He  is  no  believer  in  the  unholy  and  disgusting  tenets 
advocated  by  abolition  fanaticism  but  advocates  the  gradual 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  Union  and  the  colonization  of  the 
slaves  emancipated  in  Central  America,  which  climate  ap- 
pears to  be  happily  adapted  to  their  constitutional  idiosyn- 
cracies." 

Gradual  emancipation  became  a  growing  issue.  Mis- 
souri was  an  encouraging  field  to  start  the  propaganda  which 
Lincoln  and  Blair  thought  might  hold  the  border.  In  the 
first  place  the  slave  population  of  Missouri  was  comparatively 
small, — 114,935  slaves  of  a  total  census  of  1,182,912,  about 
one  in  ten.  In  the  second  place  most  of  the  Missouri  slaves 
were  in  contiguous  counties  along  the  Missouri  river.  Blair 
and  the  other  emancipationists  made  much  of  the  economic 
argument  They  urged  that  slave  labor  was  holding  back 
the  development  of  the  State.  Peter  L.  Foy,  who  had  been 
the  correspondent  of  the  Missouri  Democrat  at  Jefferson 
City  and  in  Washington,  wrote  a  series  of  articles  on  the 
unfair  competition  of  black  labor  with  white  labor.  These 
articles  aroused  the  white  labor.  Mr.  Lincoln  made  Mr.  Foy 
postmaster  at  St.  Louis  soon  after  his  inauguration.  B.  Gratz 
Brown  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  about  the  same  time  that 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  67 

Frank  Blair  became  a  Member  of  Congress.  Brown  made  an 
emancipation  speech  in  the  Legislature  which  caused  agita- 
tion throughout  the  State.  Henry  A.  Clover  and  S.  H.  Gard- 
ner supported   Brown's  emancipation  argument. 

The  gradual  emancipationists  were  strong  enough  in  St. 
Louis  to  elect  their  candidates  for  mayor, — John  M.  Wimer  in 
1857,  and  O.  D.  Filley  in  1858.  William  Hyde  was  a  reporter 
on  the  Missouri  Republican  at  this  time.  He  was  sent  to 
Springfield  to  report  the  Illinois  Legislature.  In  his  reminis- 
cences, given  the  Globe-Democrat  after  he  retired  from  the 
editorship  of  the  Republican,  Mr.  Hyde  wrote: 

"Mr.  Francis  Preston  Blair,  who  became  the  universally 
recognized  leader  of  the  emancipation  party,  and  Messrs. 
Edward  Bates,  B.  Gratz  Brown,  Dr.  Linton,  John  D. 
Stevenson,  John  How,  O.  D.  Filley  and  other  conspicuous 
members  were  not  believers  in  immediate  emancipation. 
They  proposed  and  advocated  a  gradual  system — a  fixed 
time  after  which  children  born  of  slave  parents  would  be 
free,  and  a  further  fixed  time  in  the  life  of  each  slave  when  all 
should  be  free.  Deportation  and  colonization  was  a  dream 
of  this  Utopia,  involving  compensation  to  slave  owners  who 
might  demand  the  same  for  the  term  of  service  cut  oflf  by 
the  act  of  emancipation  as  nearly  as  it  could  be  calculated." 

"It  was  a  sufficient  indorsement  of  Frank  Blair  in  a  par- 
tisan sense,"  continued  Mr.  Hyde,"  that  the  political  career 
of  Abraham  Lincoln,  from  the  time  of  the  repeal  of  the  Mis- 
souri Compromise,  was  patterned  on  his  model.  In  all  their 
public  discussions  both  were  anxious  that  the  agitation  of 
the  slavery  question  should  not  imperil  the  Union." 

When  he  took  his  outspoken  position,  Mr.  Blair  began 
freeing  his  own  slaves.  In  1859  he  went  into  the  St.  Louis 
circuit  court  and  "in  consideration  of  faithful  services 
and  for  divers  other  good  and  sufficient  reasons  moving  me 
thereto,"  set  free  Sarah  Dupe  and  her  three  daughters.  He 
had  previously  freed  the  husband  and  father,  Henry  Dupe. 

In  the  Illinois  senatorial  campaign  of  1858  the  relation- 
ship of  Lincoln  and  the  Missouri  emancipationists  had  its 
part.     The    Missouri    Democrat    supported    Lincoln    stren- 


68  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

uously.  The  paper's  correspondent  at  Springfield  was  John 
Hay,  who  was  then  reading  law  in  Mr.  Lincoln's  office.  John 
G.  Nicolay,  a  country  editor  and  one  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  polit- 
ical lieutenants,  was  at  the  same  time  traveling  correspond- 
ent for  the  Democrat.  Hay  attended  the  Lincoln-Douglas 
joint  debates  and  sent  graphic  and  extended  reports  to  the 
Democrat.  Nicolay  also  attended  the  meetings  and  took 
subscriptions  to  the  Democrat.  He  sent  in  lists  of  hundreds 
of  names. 

Frank  Blair  went  to  Illinois  and  participated  in  the 
campaign.  At  Springfield  and  at  Jacksonville,  Lincoln  and 
Blair  rode  together  in  the  procession  and  according  to  the 
Missouri  Democrat  were  given  a  reception  "cordial  and 
magnificent."  The  Democrat  contained  impressions  made 
upon  Blair  as  he  rode  through  Central  Illinois  with  Lincoln: 

"No  resident  of  a  slave  State  could  pass  through  the 
splendid  farms  of  Sangamon  and  Morgan,  without  per- 
mitting an  envious  sigh  to  escape  him  at  the  evident  superior- 
ity of  free  labor.  In  the  slave  States,  it  would  seem  that 
man  and  the  soil  which  he  cultivates  are  enemies.  It  would 
seem  that  he  must  extort  its  produce  as  the  tax-gatherer 
extorts  tribute  from  a  conquered  but  hostile  people.  In  the 
free  States,  on  the  contrary,  the  soil  seems  to  shower  its 
wealth  upon  the  cultivator  with  a  most  generous  and  royal 
bounty.  It  brings  forth  kindly  all  abundance,  and  smiles 
upon  him  in  all  the  four  seasons.  The  dumb  earth  itself 
seems  to  wear  a  cheerless  aspect,  and  to  yield  its  wealth 
charily  and  reluctantly  to  slave  labor." 

After  the  senatorial  campaign  Lincoln's  relations  with 
the  Missouri  emancipationists  became  still  closer.  Hay  con- 
tinued his  connection  with  the  Democrat.  His  correspond- 
ence went  from  Lincoln's  office.  It  was  frequently  inspired 
directly  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  Tradition  has  it  that  Mr.  Lincoln 
wrote  some  of  the  articles  to  appear  in  the  Democrat.  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  the  same  strong  appreciation  for  close  press 
connection  that  Benton  had.  At  different  periods  he  had 
written  much  for  the  Springfield  Journal.  Now  he  cultivated 
this  relationship  with  the  Missouri  Democrat  for  a  double 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  69 

reason.  St.  Louis  was  a  city  mucli  larger  and  more  important 
than  Chicago.  But  more  than  that,  the  St.  Louis  newspaper 
connection  was  a  strong  factor  in  the  border  states  campaign 
of  1860  for  which  Lincoln  and  Blair  had  laid  the  basis  in 
1857. 

Lincoln's  nomination. 

Into  this  intimate  relationship  of  Lincoln  and  Missouri 
entered  a  personality  not  publicly  conspicuous  at  the  time 
but  of  great  influence.  Blair  and  Brown  and  other  young 
men  were  in  the  foreground  carrying  the  banners  of  free  soil, 
free  democracy,  gradual  emancipation,  white  labor,  coloniza- 
tion and  the  like.  In  the  background  was  Edward  Bates 
counseling  and  encouraging.  He  had  seen  the  great  Whig 
party  go  to  pieces.  He  was  in  sympathy  with  the  work  of 
new  party  construction  which  Lincoln  was  doing  in  Illinois. 
He  was  not  openly  active  in  the  Lincoln  movement.  He 
was  the  wise  adviser.  When  the  time  came  to  send  a  dele- 
gation from  Missouri  to  the  Republican  nominating  con- 
vention at  Chicago  in  1860,  Mr.  Bates  permitted  his  name 
to  be  used  as  the  ostensible  candidate  of  his  State.  The 
delegation  went  instructed  for  him,  but,  as  Mr.  Bates  after- 
wards explained,  this  was  not  with  the  expectation  on  his 
or  the  delegation's  part  that  he  would  be  nominated.  The 
well  understood  purpose  was  to  hold  the  delegation  intact 
against  an  eastern  candidate, — William  H.  Seward  or  any 
other  who  might  develop  strength.  Lincoln  was  the  choice 
of  the  Missourians  and  the  vote  was  to  be  given  to  him  when 
it  would  do  the  most  good.  The  border  states  plan,  which 
Blair  and  the  other  gradual  emancipationists  had  been 
organizing,  was  not  to  be  revealed  by  publicly  committing 
Missouri  to  Lincoln. 

When  the  delegates  came  together  in  Chicago  it  ap- 
peared that  the  organization, — the  machine  as  it  would  be 
called  now, — was  for  Seward.  The  New  Yorkers  came  with 
much  beating  of  drums.  The  delegates  were  accompanied 
by  a  small  army  of  shouters,  and  as  the  latter  marched  and 
countermarched  they  were  headed  by  John  C.   Heenan,   the 


70  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

Benicia  boy,  the  champion  American  pugilist,  as  their  stand- 
ard bearer.  Seemingly  the  support  of  the  other  candidates 
was  local  and  not  impressive  upon  the  uninstructed  delegates. 
Then  came  the  surprise  which  Blair  and  the  other  border 
states  men  had  prepared. 

The  youngest  delegate  in  that  convention  was  A.  G. 
Proctor.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Kansas  delegation.  The 
Illinois  Historical  Society  preserves  in  its  collection  at  Spring- 
field Mr.  Proctor's  personal  recollections  of  the  influences 
and  arguments  which  turned  Kansas  and  other  uninstructed 
States  to  Lincoln  and  made  his  nomination  certain.  The 
delegates  according  to  Mr.  Proctor  were  about  equally 
divided  into  two  elements: 

"The  element  represented  largely  by  the  eastern  people  who 
were  of  that  great  moral  upheaval  against  slavery  as  an  institution, 
who  hated  it  for  its  hateful  self. 

"The  element  willing  to  tolerate  slavery  within  limits  where 
it  existed  and  seemed  to  belong,  but  determined  to  prevent  its 
extension  into  the  free  northwest  at  every  hazard,  even  to  the  in- 
voking of  civil  war." 

"The  first  element,"  said  Mr.  Proctor,  "wanted  Seward.  The 
second  element  was  looking  for  a  leader.  At  this  juncture  there 
came  to  the  front,  from  sources  not  before  taken  into  consideration, 
a  movement  led  by  the  men  of  the  border  States.  This  body  of 
resolute  men  from  Maryland,  from  the  mountains  of  Virginia,  from 
Eastern  Tennessee,  from  Kentucky  and  from  all  over  Missouri  had 
organized  and  selected  Cassius  M.  Clay  as  leader  and  spokesman. 
They  were  a  group  of  men  as  earnest  as  I  have  ever  met.  They 
asked  for  a  conference  with  us,  which  we  arranged  without  delay. 
The  Kansas  delegation  was  the  first  to  receive  them.  It  may  have 
occurred  to  them  that  Kansas  was  awake  to  what  was  coming,  and 
would  more  likely  appreciate  the  full  force  of  their  logic.  The  com- 
pany completely  filled  our  room.  There  was  something  about  the 
atmosphere  of  that  meeting  that  seemed  to  mean  business.  Mr. 
Clay  was  a  man  of  strong  personality.  He  had  all  of  the  manner- 
isms of  a  real  Kentucky  'colonel' — very  courtly,  very  earnest,  very 
eloquent  in  address. 

"  'Gentlemen,'  he  said  in  beginning,  'we  are  on  the  verge  of  a 
great  civU  war.' 

"One  of  our  Kansas  delegates  said,  'Mr.  Clay,  we  have  heard 
that   before.' 

"Clay  straightened  himself  and,  with  a  real  oratorical  pose, 
exclaimed    'Sir,    you   undoubtedly   have   heard   that   before.     But, 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  71 

sir,  you  will  soon  have  it  flashed  to  you  in  a  tone  that  will  carry  cer- 
tain conviction.'  He  went  on:  'We  are  from  the  South.  We 
know  our  people  well.  I  say  to  you  the  South  is  getting  ready  for 
war.  In  that  great  strip  of  border  land,  reaching  from  the  eastern 
shore  of  Maryland  to  the  western  border  of  Missouri,  stands  a  body 
of  resolute  men,  determined  that  this  Union  shall  not  be  destroyed 
without  resistance.  We  are  not  pro-slavery  men.  We  are  not 
anti-slavery  men,  but  Union  Republicans,  ready  and  willing  to  take 
up  arms  for  the  defense  of  the  border.  We  are  intensely  in  earnest. 
It  means  very  much — what  you  do  here — to  you  and  to  us.  Our 
homes  and  all  we  possess  are  in  peril.  We  want  to  hold  this  Union 
strength  for  a  Union  army.  We  want  to  work  with  you  for  a  nomi- 
nation which  will  give  us  courage  and  confidence.  We  want  you 
to  nominate  Abraham  Lincoln.  Mr.  Lincoln  was  born  among  us, 
and  we  believe  in  him.  Give  us  Lincoln  for  a  leader  and  I  promise 
you  we  will  push  back  the  disloyal  hordes  of  secession  and  transfer 
the  line  of  border  warfare  from  the  Ohio  to  the  regions  beyond  the 
Tennessee,  where  it  belongs.  We  will  make  war  upon  the  enemies 
of  our  country  at  home  and  join  you  in  driving  secession  to  its  lair. 
Do  this  for  us,  and  let  us  go  home  and  prepare  for  the  conflict.' 

"No  one  could  give  a  satisfactory  report  of  that  appeal.  It 
was  the  most  impressive  talk  that  I  had  ever  listened  to.  That 
delegation  of  border  men,  headed  by  Mr.  Clay,  made  this  appeal 
to  most  of  the  delegations  of  the  different  States.  The  effect  was 
instantly  felt.  There  was  getting  together  of  those  who  felt  the 
Lincoln  sentiment  aU  along  the  line.  This  movement  formed  the 
group  around  which  the  earnest  Lincoln  men  rallied  and  organized 
their  forces.  I  honestly  believe  that  this  was  the  movement  that 
gave  Mr.  Lincoln  his  nomination.  It  was  the  turning  point.  It 
awoke  all  to  a  realization  of  what  was  before  us  and  compelled 
recognition  of  a  new  element  on  which  might  rest  great  results  for 
good  or  evil.     In  short,  this  action  of  the  bordermen  set  us  thinking." 

Lincoln  was  nominated.  One  of  the  earliest  and  strong- 
est and  most  effective  indorsements  of  the  nomination  came 
from  Edward  Bates.  In  a  letter  to  O.  H.  Browning,  Mr. 
Bates  not  only  declared  for  Lincoln  but  he  pointed  out  in 
his  convincing  way  the  peculiar  fitness  of  Mr.  Lincoln  for 
the  conditions  confronting  the  country.  He  considered  Mr. 
Lincoln  stronger  than  the  platform. 

"As  to  the  platform,"  Mr.  Bates  wrote,  "I  have  little  to  say, 
because  whether  good  or  bad,  that  will  not  constitute  the  ground 
of  my  support  of  Mr.  Lincoln." 

"I  consider  Mr.  Lincoln  a  sound,  safe,  national  man.  He 
could  not  be  sectional  if  he  tried.     His  birth,  the  habits  of  his  life 


72  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

and  his  geographical  position  compel  him  to  be  national.  All  his 
feelings  and  interests  are  identified  with  the  great  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, near  whose  center  he  has  spent  his  whole  life.  That  valley 
is  not  a  section,  but  conspicuously  the  body  of  the  nation,  and, 
large  as  it  is,  it  is  not  capable  of  being  divided  into  sections,  for  the 
great  river  cannot  be  divided.  It  is  one  and  indivisible  and  the  north 
and  the  south  are  alike  necessary  to  its  comfort  and  prosperity. 
Its  people,  too,  in  all  their  interests  and  affections,  are  as  broad  and 
generous  as  the  regions  they  inhabit.  They  are  emigrants,  a  mixed 
multitude,  coming  from  every  State  in  the  Union,  and  from  most 
countries  in  Europe.  They  are  unwilling,  therefore,  to  submit  to 
any  one  petty  local  standard.  They  love  the  nation  as  a  whole, 
and  they  love  all  its  parts,  for  they  are  bound  to  them  all,  not  only 
by  a  feeling  of  common  interest  and  mutual  dependence,  but  also 
by  the  recollections  of  childhood  and  youth,  by  blood  and  friend- 
ship, and  by  all  those  social  and  domestic  charities  which  sweeten 
life,  and  make  this  world  worth  living  in.  The  valley  is  beginning 
to  feel  its  power,  and  will  soon  be  strong  enough  to  dictate  the  law 
of  the  land.  Whenever  that  state  of  things  shall  come  to  pass,  it 
wUl  be  most  fortunate  for  the  nation  to  find  the  powers  of  the 
government  lodged  in  the  hands  of  men  whose  habits  of  thought, 
whose  position  and  surrounding  circumstances  constrain  them  to 
use  those  powers  for  general  and  not  sectional  ends." 

With  such  broad  and  statesmanlike  views  of  the  situa- 
tion, Mr.  Bates  led  up  to  his  personal  and  intimate  estimate 
of  Mr.  Lincoln: 

"I  have  known  Mr.  Lincoln  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and 
therefore  have  a  right  to  speak  of  him  with  some  confidence.  As 
an  individual  he  has  earned  a  high  reputation  for  truth,  courage, 
candor,  morals  and  amiability,  so  that  as  a  man  he  is  most  trust- 
worthy. And  in  this  particular  he  is  more  entitled  to  our  esteem 
than  some  other  men,  his  equals,  who  had  far  better  opportunities 
and  aids  in  early  life.  His  talents  and  the  will  to  use  them  to  the 
best  advantage  are  unquestionable;  and  the  proof  is  found  in  the 
fact  that,  in  every  position  in  life,  from  his  humble  beginning  to  his 
present  well  earned  elevation,  he  has  more  than  fulfilled  the  best 
hopes  of  his  friends.  And  now  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  manhood 
and  in  the  honest  pride  of  having  made  himself  what  he  is,  he  is  the 
peer  of  the  first  men  of  the  nation,  well  able  to  sustain  himself  and 
advance  his  cause  against  any  adversary,  and  in  any  field  where 
mind  and  knowledge  are  the  weapons  used.  In  politics  he  has  acted 
out  the  principles  of  his  own  moral  and  intellectual  character.  He 
has  not  concealed  his  thoughts  or  hidden  his  light  under  a  bushel. 
With   the   boldness   of   conscious   rectitude   and   the   frankness   of 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  73 

downright  honesty,  he  has  not  failed  to  avow  his  opinions  of  public 
officers  upon  all  fitting  occasions.  I  give  my  opinion  freely  in  favor 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  and  I  hope  that  for  the  good  of  the  whole  country 
he  may  be  elected." 

LINCOLN  AND   THE   BLAIRS. 

Lincoln  was  elected.  Missouri  gave  him  only  17,028 
votes  out  of  more  than  165,000.  But  Missouri  divided  hope- 
lessly the  great  bulk  of  the  vote  in  large  sections  among  three 
other  Presidential  tickets.  The  effect  of  the  campaign, 
which  the  gradual  emancipationists  had  carried  on  in  Mis- 
souri after  the  Lincoln-Blair  conference  at  Springfield  in 
1857,  was  not  to  be  judged  by  the  Lincoln  vote  of  17,028.  It 
was  to  be  traced  in  the  disintegration  of  the  great  majority 
into  helpless  factions.  Missouri  polled  that  year  one  vote 
for  every  six  white  persons  in  the  population.  Nearly  the 
entire  voting  strength  was  brought  to  the  polls  by  the  in- 
tense interest  felt.  Douglas  carried  the  State,  but  by  only 
one-third  of  the  vote  cast.  He  led  the  Constitutional  Union 
party  by  fewer  than  600  votes.  The  disturbing  influence 
of  the  slavery  issue  raised  by  Lincoln  and  the  Missouri 
emancipationists  had  done  its  worst  for  Missouri.  It  had 
broken  party  lines.  It  had  shattered  the  Democratic  or- 
ganization. 

Lincoln  was  elected.  Edward  Bates  had  declined  a 
place  in  the  Fillmore  cabinet  a  few  years  previously.  So 
much  concerned  about  the  national  situation  was  he  now  that 
he  accepted  the  appointment  of  Attorney  General  in  the 
Lincoln  cabinet.  Montgomery  Blair,  brother  of  Frank 
Blair,  was  appointed  Postmaster  General.  This  was  equiv- 
alent to  giving  Missouri  two  of  the  seven  places  in  the  cabinet 
for  Montgomery  Blair  had  lived  fifteen  years  in  Missouri  and 
had  moved  to  Washington  only  a  short  time  before.  Here 
is  more  evidence  of  what  his  relationship  with  Missouri 
meant  in  the  mind  of  President  Lincoln.  Other  proofs  came 
in  quick  succession.  Frank  Blair  made  trips  to  Springfield 
between  the  election  in  November  and  the  departure  of 
Lincoln  for  Washington  in  February.  He  kept  the  President- 
elect informed  of  every  step  in  that  game  that  was  going  on 


74  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

for  the  possession  of  the  St.  Louis  arsenal  with  its  60,000 
muskets  and  munitions  of  war,  more  than  there  was  in  all 
of  the  other  slave  States.  He  told  Mr.  Lincoln  that  if  the 
southern  rights  administration  of  Missouri  gained  control  of 
the  arsenal  and  its  contents  the  State  would  be  carried  into 
the  Confederacy  and  with  Missouri  the  other  border  States 
would  be  lost.  Blair  was  in  Springfield  the  latter  part  of 
February  and  from  there  he  hurried  to  Washington  to  report 
the  rumor  that  the  secessionists  would  attempt  to  seize  the 
arsenal  on  the  day  of  Lincoln's  inauguration  and  to  urge 
President  Buchanan  to  put  Lyon  in  charge.  The  Minute 
Men  allowed  the  4th  of  March  to  pass  without  the  threatened 
attack.  Nine  days  later  President  Lincoln  gave  Lyon  com- 
mand of  the  arsenal  and  the  opportunity  of  the  state  govern- 
ment was  lost. 

Fort  Sumpter  fell  on  the  13th  of  April.  The  President 
called  for  75,000  men,  of  which  Missouri's  quota  was  four 
regiments  of  infantry.  Governor  Claiborne  F.  Jackson  re- 
plied to  the  President's  call: 

"Not  one  man  williMissouri  furnish  to  carry  on  such  an 
unholy  crusade." 

Frank  Blair  arrived  in  St.  Louis  from  Washington  the 
day  Governor  Jackson  sent  the  foregoing  message.  He  had 
in  his  pocket  an  order  on  the  arsenal  for  5,000  muskets  "to 
arm  loyal  citizens,"  another  indication  of  what  "Lincoln  and 
Missouri"  meant.     Blair  telegraphed  to  Washington: 

"Send  order  at  once  for  mustering  men  into  service  to 
Captain  N.  Lyon.  It  will  then  be  surely  executed,  and  we 
will  fill  your  requisition  in  two  days." 

The  order  came,  "muster  into  service  four  regiments." 
This  was  done.  A  week  later,  on  the  30th  of  April,  Mr. 
Lincoln  gave  expression  to  his  extraordinary  relationship 
with  Missouri  in  the  following,  addressed  to  Captain  Lyon: 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  directs  that  you 
enroll  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  the  loyal 
citizens  of  St.  Louis  and  vicinity,  not  exceeding  with  those 
heretofore  enlisted,  ten  thousand  in  number,  for  the  purpose 
of  maintaining  the  authority  of  the  United  States  and  for  the 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  75 

protection  of  the  peaceable  inhabitants  of  Missouri;  and  you 
will,  if  deemed  necessary  for  that  purpose  by  yourself  and  by 
Messrs.  Oliver  D.  Filley,  John  How,  James  O.  Broadhead, 
Samuel  T.  Glover,  J.  J.  Witzig  and  Francis  P.  Blair,  Jr., 
proclaim  martial  law  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis." 

There  is  no  parallel  to  this  act  in  that  early  period  of 
the  war.  Old  General  Winfield  Scott  commanding  the  army 
wrote  his  indorsement  on  the  order: 

"It  is  revolutionary  times,  and  therefore  I  do  not  object 
to  the  irregularity  of  this." 

It  was  revolution.  But  President  Lincoln  realized  what 
it  meant  to  hold  Missouri  in  the  Union  and  he  did  not  stop 
at  revolution  which  put  State  and  city  in  the  control  of  a  com- 
mittee of  public  safety  composed  of  Missourians  he  trusted. 

In  those  four  or  five  early  months  of  1861,  which  settled 
Missouri's  status,  Frank  Blair  was  going  and  coming  between 
Washington  and  St.  Louis.  He  came  home  from  one  of  these 
trips  with  another  proof  in  his  pocket  of  what  Lincoln  and 
Missouri  meant.  This  was  no  less  than  an  order  for  the 
removal  of  General  W.  S.  Harney  at  such  time  as  Blair  in 
his  judgment  should  deem  best.  After  Blair  had  departed 
with  this  order  the  President  wrote  to  him  a  personal  letter, 
dated  May  18.  This  was  eight  days  after  the  Camp  Jackson 
affair : 

"We  have  a  good  deal  of  anxiety  here  about  St.  Louis. 
I  understand  an  order  has  gone  from  the  War  Department 
to  you,  to  be  delivered  or  withheld  in  your  discretion,  re- 
lieving General  Harney  from  his  command.  I  was  not  quite 
satisfied  with  the  order  when  it  was  made,  though  on  the 
whole  I  thought  it  best  to  make  it;  but  since  then  I  have 
become  more  doubtful  of  its  propriety.  I  do  not  write  to 
countermand  it,  but  to  say  I  wish  you  would  withhold  it, 
unless  in  your  judgment  the  necessity  to  the  contrary  is  very 
urgent.  There  are  several  reasons  for  this.  We  had  better 
have  him  as  a  friend  than  an  enemy.  It  will  dissatisfy  a 
good  many  who  otherwise  would  be  quiet.  More  than  all, 
we  first  relieve  him,  then  restore  him,  and  now  if  we  relieve 


76  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

him  again  the  pubHc  ask,  why  this  vacillation?     "Still,   if 
in  your  judgment  it  is  indispensable,  let  it  be  so." 

The  influence  of  the  Blairs  with  Mr.  Lincoln  was  strong. 
Not  only  was  the  younger  Montgomery  Blair  an  official 
adviser,  not  only  was  the  judgment  of  Francis  P.  Blair  in 
Missouri  matters  of  great  weight,  but  the  President  listened 
in  regard  to  his  cherished  border  States  policy  to  the  counsel 
of  the  elder  Montgomery  Blair.  The  relationship  was  pe- 
culiar. The  President  was  not  under  the  influence  of  the 
Blairs  in  the  sense  that  he  leaned  weakly  upon  them.  But 
he  believed  that  the  maintenance  of  the  Union  depended 
upon  the  course  of  Missouri  and  the  other  border  States. 
In  that  belief,  he  recognized  the  value  of  the  advice  and  sup- 
port of  the  Blairs.  Just  how  he  regarded  the  Blairs  is  shown 
in  one  of  the  President's  informal  talks  which  John  Hay 
wrote  into   his  diary: 

"The  Blairs  have  to  an  unusual  degree  the  spirit  of  clan. 
Their  family  is  a  close  corporation.  Frank  is  their  hope  and 
pride.  They  have  a  way  of  going  with  a  rush  for  anything 
they  undertake;  especially  have  Montgomery  and  the  old 
gentleman." 

When  he  talked  in  this  way,  the  President  had  in  mind 
the  Fremont  fiasco  in  Missouri. 

FREMONT   AND   MISSOURI. 

On  the  first  day  of  July,  1861,  John  C.  Fremont  came 
home  from  France.  On  the  third  of  July  he  was  appointed 
a  major  general  and  the  Western  Department  with  head- 
quarters at  St.  Louis  was  created  for  him.  Fremont  reached 
St.  Louis  on  the  25th  of  July.  Then  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession the  disastrous  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek  and  Lyon's 
death  and  Fremont's  proclamation.  Fremont  declared  martial 
law  throughout  Missouri.  He  ordered  that  "all  persons  who 
shall  be  taken  with  arms  in  their  hands  within  these  lines 
shall  be  tried  by  court-martial  and  if  found  guilty  shall  be 
shot."  He  declared  the  property  of  all  persons  in  the  State  of 
Missouri  who  shall  take  up  arms  against  the  United  States 
or  who  shall  be  directly  proven  to  have  taken  an  active 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  77 

part  with  their  enemies  in  the  field,  "to  be  confiscated." 
And  "their  slaves,  if  any  they  have,  are  hereby  declared 
freemen." 

This  brief  reference  to  Fremont's  three  months  in  Mis- 
souri is  necessary  to  the  understanding  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
intimate  relations  with  this  State.  Fremont  was  appointed 
a  major  general  and  given  the  command  in  Missouri  on  the 
"earnest  solicitation"  of  the  Blairs.  This  President  Lincoln 
stated  afterwards  in  conversation  which  John  Hay,  his 
secretary,  wrote  in  his  diary.  Mr.  Lincoln  said  that  he 
"thought  well  of  Fremont"  at  the  time  but  afterwards  con- 
cluded that  the  general  had  "absolutely  no  military  capacity." 
The  Blairs  reached  this  conclusion  before  Mr.  Lincoln  did. 
Frank  Blair  went  to  St.  Louis  to  help  Fremont  get  well 
started.  "At  last,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "the  tone  of  Frank's 
letters  changed.  It  was  a  change  from  confidence  to  doubt 
and  uncertainty.  They  were  pervaded  with  a  tone  of  sin- 
cere sorrow  and  of  fear  that  Fremont  would  fail.  Mont- 
gomery showed  them  to  me,  and  we  were  both  grieved  at 
the  prospect.  Soon  came  the  news  that  Fremont  had  issued 
his  emancipation  order,  and  had  set  up  a  bureau  of  abolition, 
giving  free  papers,  and  occupying  his  time  apparently  with 
little   else." 

Immediately  after  seeing  Fremont's  emancipation  order 
Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  him: 

"Two  points  in  your  proclamation  of  August  20  give  me 
some  anxiety: 

"First.  Should  you  shoot  a  man,  according  to  the  proc- 
lamation, the  Confederates  would  very  certainly  shoot  our 
best  men  in  their  hands  in  retaliation;  and  so,  man  for  man, 
indefinitely.  It  is,  therefore,  my  order  that  you  allow  no 
man  to  be  shot  under  the  proclamation,  without  first  having 
my  approbation  and  consent. 

"Second.  I  think  there  is  great  danger  that  the  closing 
paragraph,  in  relation  to  the  confiscation  of  property  and 
the  liberating  slaves  of  traitorous  owners,  will  alarm  our 
southern  Union  friends  and  turn  them  against  us;  perhaps 
ruin  our  rather  fair  prospect  for  Kentucky.    Allow  me,  there- 


78  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

fore,  to  ask  that  you  will,  as  of  your  own  motion,  modify 
that  paragraph  so  as  to  conform  to  the  first  and  fourth  sec- 
tions of  the  act  of  Congress  entitled,  'An  act  to  confiscate 
property  used  for  insurrectionary  purposes,'  approved  August 
6,  1861,  and  a  copy  of  which  act  I  herewith  send  you. 

"This  letter  is  written  in  a  spirit  of  caution,  and  not  of 
censure.  I  send  it  by  special  messenger,  in  order  that  it 
may  certainly  and  speedily  reach  you." 

Frank  Blair  had  become  so  convinced  that  Fremont  was 
doing  the  Union  cause  great  injury  in  Missouri  that  he  crit- 
icised him  in  a  newspaper  article.  Fremont  placed  Blair 
under  arrest.  Blair  then  sent  to  Washington  charges  against 
Fremont.  Montgomery  Blair,  the  younger,  on  the  suggestion 
of  Mr.  Lincoln,  came  on  to  St.  Louis  to  make  a  personal 
investigation.  On  the  way  he  passed  Mrs.  Fremont,  the 
daughter  of  Thomas  H.  Benton,  taking  to  Washington  the 
answer  of  her  husband  to  the  President's  letter  asking  that 
the  proclamation  be  modified.  Mrs.  Fremont  arrived  at  a 
late  hour,  went  to  the  White  House  about  midnight  and  in- 
sisted upon  a  personal  interview  with  the  President.  The 
President,  describing  to  friends  the  experience,  said  she 
"taxed  me  so  violently  with  many  things  that  I  had  to  exer- 
cise all  the  awkward  tact  I  have  to  avoid  quarreling  with  her. 
She  surprised  me  by  asking  why  their  enemy,  Montgomery 
Blair,  had  been  sent  to  Missouri.  She  more  than  once  inti- 
mated that  if  General  Fremont  should  decide  to  try  con- 
clusions with  me,  he  could  set  up  for  himself." 

Fremont  declined  to  be  guided  by  the  President's  friendly 
suggestion.  He  defended  his  action  in  regard  to  slaves.  He 
insisted  that  an  official  order  be  issued  directing  him  to  change 
his  proclamation  if  it  must  be  done.  The  order  was  sent. 
It  drew  upon  Mr.  Lincoln  harsh  criticism  from  anti-slavery 
people  in  the  North.  It  intensified  the  factional  differences 
in  Missouri.     In  a  few  weeks  Fremont  was  relieved. 

The  President  regarded  Fremont's  proclamation  more 
seriously  than  his  friendly  letter  might  indicate.  He  wrote 
another  letter,  much  longer,  to  O.  H.  Browning  of  Illinois 
showing  that  Fremont's  action  was  a  dangerous  menace  to 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  79 

the  border  States  policy.  This  letter  he  marked  "Private 
and  Confidential."  Mr.  Browning  made  the  letter  public 
before  the  Illinois  Bar  Association  in  1882. 

Executive  Mansion,  Washington,  Sept.  22,   1861. 
Hon.  O.  H.  Browning. 

My  Dear  Sir:  Yours  of  the  17th  is  just  received,  and  coming 
from  you,  I  confess  it  astonishes  me.  That  you  should  object  to 
my  adhering  to  a  law,  which  you  had  assisted  in  making,  and  pre- 
senting to  me,  less  than  a  month  before,  is  odd  enough.  But  this 
is  a  very  small  part.  General  Fremont's  proclamation,  as  to  con- 
fiscation of  property,  and  the  liberation  of  slaves,  is  purely  political 
and  not  within  the  range  of  military  law  or  necessity.  If  a  com- 
manding general  finds  a  necessity  to  seize  a  farm  of  a  private  owner, 
for  a  pasture,  an  encampment,  or  a  fortification,  he  has  the  right 
to  do  so,  and  to  so  hold  it,  as  long  as  the  necessity  lasts;  and  this  is 
within  military  law,  because  within  military  necessity.  But  to 
say  the  farm  shall  no  longer  belong  to  the  owner,  or  his  heirs  forever, 
and  this,  as  well  when  the  farm  is  not  needed  for  military  purposes 
as  when  it  is,  is  purely  political,  without  the  savor  of  military  law 
about  it.  And  the  same  is  true  of  slaves.  If  the  general  needs 
them  he  can  seize  them  and  use  them,  but  when  the  need  is  past, 
it  is  not  for  him  to  fix  their  permanent  future  condition.  That 
must  be  settled  according  to  laws  made  by  lawmakers,  and  not  by 
military  proclamations.  The  proclamation  in  the  point  in  question 
is  simply  "dictatorship."  It  assumes  that  the  general  may  do 
anything  he  pleases — confiscate  the  lands  and  free  the  slaves  of 
loyal  people,  as  well  as  of  disloyal  ones.  And  going  the  whole 
figure,  I  have  no  doubt,  would  be  more  popular,  with  some  thought- 
less people,  than  that  which  has  been  done!  But  I  cannot  assume 
this  reckless  position,  nor  allow  others  to  assume  it  on  my  re- 
sponsibility. 

You  speak  of  it  as  being  the  only  means  of  saving  the  Govern- 
ment. On  the  contrary,  it  is  itself  the  surrender  of  the  Government. 
Can  it  be  pretended  that  it  is  any  longer  the  Government  of  the 
United  States — any  government  of  constitution  and  laws — wherein 
a  general  or  a  president  may  make  permanent  rules  of  property  by 
proclamation?  I  do  not  say  Congress  might  not  with  propriety 
pass  a  law  on  the  point,  just  as  General  Fremont  proclaimed.  I  do 
not  say  I  might  not,  as  a  Member  of  Congress,  vote  for  it.  What 
I  object  to  is,  that  I,  as  President,  shall  expressly  or  impliedly  seize 
and  exercise  the  permanent  legislative  functions  of  the  Government. 

So  much  as  to  principle.  Now  as  to  policy.  No  doubt  the 
thing  was  popular  in  some  quarters,  and  would  have  been  more  so 
2 


80  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

if  it  had  been  a  general  declaration  of  emancipation.  The  Ken- 
tucky Legislature  would  not  budge  till  that  proclamation  was  modi- 
fied; and  General  Anderson  telegraphed  me  that  on  the  news  of 
General  Fremont  having  actually  issued  deeds  of  manumission,  a 
whole  company  of  our  volunteers  threw  down  their  arms  and  dis- 
banded. I  was  so  assured  as  to  think  it  probable  that  the  very  arms 
we  had  furnished  Kentucky  would  be  turned  against  us.  I  think 
to  lose  Kentucky  is  nearly  the  same  as  to  lose  the  whole  game. 
Kentucky  gone,  we  cannot  hold  Missouri,  nor,  as  I  think,  Maryland. 
These  all  against  us,  and  the  job  on  our  hands  is  too  large  for  us. 
We  would  as  well  consent  to  separation  at  once,  including  the 
surrender  of  the  capital.  On  the  contrary,  if  you  will  give  up  your 
restlessness  for  new  positions,  and  back  me  manfully  on  the  grounds 
upon  which  you  and  other  kind  friends  gave  me  the  election,  and 
have  approved  in  my  public  documents,  we  shall  go  through  tri- 
umphantly. You  must  not  understand  I  took  my  course  on  the 
proclamation  because  of  Kentucky.  I  took  the  same  ground  in  a 
private  letter  to  General  Fremont  before  I  heard  from  Kentucky. 

You  think  I  am  inconsistent  because  I  did  not  also  forbid 
General  Fremont  to  shoot  men  under  the  proclamation.  I  under- 
stand that  to  be  within  military  law,  but  I  also  think,  and  so  pri- 
vately wrote  General  Fremont,  that  it  is  impolitic  in  this,  that 
our  adversaries  have  the  power,  and  will  certainly  exercise  it,  to 
shoot  as  many  of  our  men  as  we  shoot  of  theirs.  I  did  not  say  this 
in  the  public  letter,  because  it  is  a  subject  I  prefer  not  to  discuss  in 
the  hearing  of  our  enemies. 

There  has  been  no  thought  of  removing  General  Fremont  on 
any  ground  connected  with  this  proclamation,  and  if  there  has  been 
any  wish  for  his  removal  on  any  ground,  our  mutual  friend  Sam 
Glover  can  probably  tell  you  what  it  was.  I  hope  no  real  necessity 
for  it  exists  on  any  ground. 

Your  friend,   as  ever, 

A.    Liiicoln. 

"compensated  abolishment." 

"Compensated  abolishment"  was  a  phrase  which  became 
widely  current  in  the  winter  of  1861-2.  It  was  coined  in 
the  border  States'  policy  of  the  Administration.  Lincoln 
and  the  Missourians  who  had  been  for  gradual  emancipation 
before  the  war  were  now  for  compensated  abolishment. 
They  proposed  that  the  loyal  slaveholders  of  the  border 
accept  pay  for  their  human  property  before  emancipation  by 
force  was  applied  to  the  Confederate  States.  They  looked 
to  Missouri  to  pioneer  the  way. 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURL  81 

As  early  as  his  message  to  Congress  on  December  3, 
1861,  the  President  said  the  government  must  use  all  in- 
dispensable means  to  maintain  the  Union.  He  hinted  at 
colonization  as  a  possible  remedy  for  slavery. 

On  the  6th  of  March  he  sent  to  Congress  a  message 
recommending  pay  for  slaves  of  the  loyal.  He  wrote  private 
letters  urging  the  initiation  of  emancipation  legislation. 
"I  say  'initiation,'  "  he  wrote,  "because  in  my  judgment 
gradual  and  not  sudden  emancipation  is  better  for  all." 

On  the  10th  of  March,  he  invited  the  Missourians  and 
the  other  Members  of  Congress  from  border  States  to  the 
White  House  for  a  conference  and  presented  his  plan  for 
gradual  compensated  abolishment.  Only  two  of  the  Mis- 
sourians favored  the  plan.  They  were  Senator  John  B. 
Henderson  and  Representative  John  W.  Noell.  Frank 
Blair,  who  was  for  the  plan,  was  not  there.  Subsequently 
he  wrote  a  letter  on  the  policy  to  Rudolph  Doehn  of  Mis- 
souri in  which  he  declared  himself  for  a  "gradual,  peaceful 
and  just  measure  of  emancipation." 

After  the  March  conference  the  President  urged  his 
views  upon  the  Members  of  Congress  individually.  He 
chose  Senator  Henderson  to  champion  the  pay-for-slaves 
policy.  Blair  was  in  the  field  with  his  command.  Hender- 
son had  entered  the  Senate  by  appointment  from  Governor 
Gamble,  taking  the  place  of  Trusten  Polk  who  had  gone 
into  the  Confederate  army.  Henderson  was  then  but  little 
beyond  the  age  which  made  him  eligible  for  the  Senate. 
The  President  took  him  into  his  confidence.  Some  years 
ago,  in  Washington,  Senator  Henderson  gave  the  writer  his 
recollections.  There  was  great  pressure  being  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  President  to  declare  general  emancipation. 
Delegations  of  ministers  were  coming  to  Washington  and 
demanding  the  freedom  of  the  slaves.  The  leaders  of  the 
Republican  party  were  insistent.  Senator  Zach.  Chandler 
of  Michigan,  Senator  Ben  Wade  of  Ohio  and  Senator  Charles 
Sumner  of  Massachusetts  called  almost  daily  at  the  White 
House  to  tell  the  President  what  he  ought  to  do.     Senator 


82  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

Henderson  was  sent  for  frequently  to  report  how  the  border 
States  policy  was  progressing. 

"As  I  went  in  one  day,"  Senator  Henderson  said,  "I  noticed 
that  the  President  looked  troubled.  He  was  sitting  in  one  of  his 
favorite  attitudes — in  a  rocking  chair  with  one  leg  thrown  over  the 
arm.     I  knew  that  he  suffered  terribly  from  headaches,  and  I  said: 

"  'Mr.  President,  you  must  have  one  of  your  headaches;  you 
look   so   gloomy.' 

"  'No,'  said  he,  'it  isn't  headache  this  time.  Chandler  has 
been  here  to  talk  again  about  emancipation,  and  he  came  on  the 
heels  of  Wade  and  Sumner,  who  were  here  on  the  same  errand. 
I  like  these  three  men,  but  they  bother  me  nearly  to  death.  They 
put  me  in  the  situation  of  a  boy  I  remember  when  I  was  going  to 
school.'  " 

Senator  Henderson  noted  the  brightening  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
face.  He  recognized  the  signs  that  a  story  was  coming.  Mr. 
Lincoln  leaned  forward,  began  to  smile,  and  clasped  his  hands 
around  the  knee  of  the  leg  resting  on  the  arm  of  the  chair. 

"The  text-book  was  the  Bible,"  Mr.  Lincoln  went  on.  "There 
was  a  rather  dull  little  fellow  in  the  class  who  didn't  know  very 
much.  We  were  reading  the  account  of  the  three  Hebrews  cast 
into  the  fiery  furnace.  The  little  fellow  was  called  on  to  read  and 
he  stumbled  along  until  he  came  to  the  names  of  the  three  Hebrews 
— Shadrach,  Meshach  and  Abednego.  He  couldn't  do  anything 
with  them.  The  teacher  pronounced  them  over  very  slowly  and 
told  the  boy  to  try.  The  boy  tried  and  missed.  This  provoked 
the  teacher  and  he  slapped  the  little  fellow,  who  cried  vigorously. 
Then  the  boj^  tried  again  but  he  couldn't  get  the  names.  'Well,' 
said  the  teacher  impatiently,  'never  mind  the  names.  Skip  them 
and  go  on.'  The  poor  boy  drew  his  shirt  sleeve  across  his  eyes  two 
or  three  times,  snuffed  his  nose  and  started  on  to  read.  He  went 
along  bravely  a  little  way,  and  then  he  suddenly  stopped,  dropped 
the  book  down  in  front  of  him,  looked  despairingly  at  the  teacher 
and  burst  out  crying.  'What's  the  matter  now?'  shouted  the  teacher, 
all  out  of  patience.  'H-h-here's  them  same  darn  three  fellers  agin,' 
sobbed  the  boy. 

"That,"  said  the  President,  "is  just  my  fix  today,  Henderson. 
Those  same  darn  three  fellers  have  been  here  again  with  their  ever- 
lasting emancipation  talk." 

The  President  stopped  a  few  moments  to  enjoy  the  story,  and 
becoming  serious,  continued: 

"But  Sumner  and  Wade  and  Chandler  are  right  about  it.  I 
know  it  and  you  know  it,  too.  I've  got  to  do  something  and  it 
can't  be  put  off  much  longer.  We  can't  get  through  this  terrible 
war  with  slavery  existing.     You've  got  sense  enough  to  know  that. 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  83 

Why  can't  you  make  the  border  States  members  see  it?  Why 
don't  you  turn  in  and  take  pay  for  your  slaves  from  the  govern- 
ment? Then  all  your  people  can  give  their  hearty  support  to  the 
Union.  We  can  go  ahead  with  emancipation  of  slaves  by  proc- 
lamation in  the  other  States  and  end  the  trouble." 

As  early  as  May,  1862,  the  President  told  Senator  Hender- 
son of  his  intention  to  issue  the  emancipation  proclamation. 
Action  was  not  taken  until  six  months  later  and  then  it  was 
not  to  take  effect  until  January  1,  1863.  The  President 
held  out  as  long  as  he  could,  hoping  to  carry  out  the  border 
States  policy  upon  which  his  heart  was  set.  On  the  12th 
of  July  he  again  invited  the  delegation  from  Missouri  and 
the  Members  from  other  States  to  come  to  the  White  House. 
He  read  a  carefully  written  appeal  to  them  to  adopt  his 
policy  of  compensated  abolishment.     He  said: 

"I  intend  no  reproach  or  complaint  when  I  assure  you 
that,  in  my  opinion,  if  you  all  had  voted  for  the  resolution 
in  the  gradual  emancipation  message  of  last  March,  the  war 
would  now  be  substantially  ended." 

Twenty  of  these  Members  sent  their  reply  two  days  later. 
They  pledged  their  loyalty  but  declared  their  judgment  to 
be  against  the  pay-for-slaves  policy.  The  Missourians 
signing  the  paper  were  Senator  Robert  Wilson  and  Repre- 
sentatives James  S.  Rollins,  William  A.  Hall,  Thomas  L. 
Price  and  John  S.  Phelps. 

Senator  Henderson  and  Representative  Noell  wrote  to 
the  President  that  they  would  endeavor  to  secure  from  the 
people  of  Missouri  consideration  of  his  plan.  They  did  so. 
The  policy  became  the  issue  in  the  campaign  which  followed. 
Of  the  nine  Members  of  Congress  elected  by  Missouri  in 
November  six  were  avowed  emancipationists.  The  lower 
branch  of  the  Legislature  was  emancipation  and  chose  the 
emancipation  candidate  for  speaker  by  a  vote  of  sixty-seven 
to  forty-two.  Governor  Gamble  in  his  message  advised  the 
Legislature  to  take  up  the  subject. 

When  Congress  met  in  December  for  the  short  session 
the  House  appointed  a  select  committee  on  gradual  eman- 
cipation in  the  loyal  slave-holding  States.     Frank  P.  Blair 


84  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 

was  made  the  Missouri  member  of  it.  On  the  10th  of  De- 
cember Senator  Henderson  introduced  in  the  Senate  his  bill 
to  give  Missouri  $20,000,000  to  pay  for  the  slaves  of  loyal 
owners.  The  next  day  Noell  put  in  his  bill  in  the  House, 
appropriating  $10,000,000  to  reimburse  loyal  owners  of  slaves 
in  Missouri.  Both  bills  passed  by  large  majorities  but  the 
difference  in  the  amounts  made  it  necessary  to  compromise. 
The  President  did  all  he  could  to  expedite  the  legislation. 
On  the  10th  of  January  he  sent  this  telegram  to  General 
Curtis  in  command  at  St.  Louis: 

"I  understand  there  is  considerable  trouble  with  the 
slaves  in  Missouri.  Please  do  your  best  to  keep  peace  on  the 
question  for  two  or  three  weeks,  by  which  time  we  hope  to 
do  something  here  towards  settling  the  question  in  Missouri." 

"I  do  not  remember,"  said  Senator  Henderson,  "whether  Mr. 
Lincoln  drafted  the  bill  or  I  got  it  up,  but  the  inspiration  came  from 
him.  I  did  all  in  my  power  to  press  it.  The  proposition  went 
through  the  House  and  Senate,  but  it  was  passed  in  somewhat 
different  forms.  The  Senate  increased  the  amount,  and  this  dif- 
ference had  to  be  adjusted  in  conference.  There  was  a  good  ma- 
jority for  the  Missouri  bill  in  both  branches  of  Congress  and  there 
was  not  much  trouble  about  compromising  the  difference  of  opinions 
on  the  amount  to  be  appropriated,  but  the  session  was  almost  at 
an  end  and  a  small  minority  in  the  House  was  able  by  filibustering 
and  obstructing  to  prevent  the  final  action  there.  If  the  bill  could 
have  been  brought  before  the  House  in  its  finished  form  it  would 
have  passed  finally  as  easy  as  it  did  in  the  Senate." 

"President  Lincoln  watched  the  progress  of  the  legislation 
with  a  great  deal  of  interest,  continued  Senator  Henderson.  "He 
could  not  understand  why  the  border  States  Members  should  not 
be  for  it.  And  I  could  not,  either.  It  was  perfectly  plain  to  me 
that  slavery  had  to  go.  Here  was  a  voluntary  offer  on  the  part  of 
the  government  to  compensate  the  loyal  men  in  the  border  States 
for  the  loss  of  their  property.  I  talked  with  the  members  from 
Missouri  and  from  Kentucky  and  with  the  others  who  were  most 
interested,  but  I  couldn't  make  them  see  it  as  I  did.  They  had 
exaggerated  ideas  of  the  results  which  would  ensue  from  a  free 
negro  population.  They  took  the  position  that  slavery  must  not 
be  touched.  It  was  their  determined  opposition  to  the  end  that 
deferred  the  bill  to  give  the  Missouri  slave  holders  $20,000,000  for 
their  slaves.  If  the  Missouri  bill  had  gone  through  the  others 
would  have  followed  undoubtedly  and  the  loyal  slaveholders  in  all 
of  the  border  States  would  have  received  pay  for  their  slaves." 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  85 

President  Lincoln  and  Senator  Henderson  were  so  con- 
fident the  bill  to  disburse  $20,000,000  for  Missouri  slaves 
would  become  law  that  some  figuring  was  done  on  the  amount 
which  would  be  paid  per  capita. 

"I  recollect  quite  distinctly  the  calculations  I  made  at  the  time," 
Senator  Henderson  said.  "I  found  that  the  amount  which  the 
government  would  have  distributed  to  Missourians  under  the  terms 
of  the  bill  finally  agreed  upon  in  conference  would  have  given  the 
loyal  owners  in  my  State  $300  for  each  slave — man,  woman  and 
child.  That  I  considered  a  pretty  good  price,  for  while  we  were 
legislating  the  emancipated  proclamation  had  become  assured,  and 
it  was  very  evident  to  my  mind  that  slavery  was  doomed,  even 
among  those  slaveholders  who  had  remained  loyal." 

The  record  bears  out  Senator  Henderson's  recollections. 
The  House  passed  Noell's  bill  by  seventy-three  to  forty-six. 
The  Senate  accepted  the  compromise  on  the  amount,  which 
was  $15,000,000  by  a  vote  of  twenty-three  to  fifteen.  But 
the  compromise  was  not  reported  until  six  days  before  the 
end  of  the  session  and  a  small  minority  in  the  House  was 
able  to  prevent  a  vote  on  it.  In  this  minority  were  three 
Missourians,  William  A.  Hall,  Elijah  H.  Norton  and  Thomas 
L.  Price. 

To  have  the  courage  of  their  convictions  has  ever  been 
characteristic  of  Missourians  sent  to  Congress.  The  three 
Missourians  who  fought  the  compensated  abolishment  bill 
to  its  death  were  honest.  No  one  who  reads  the  debate  can 
doubt  that.  Elijah  H.  Norton,  who  represented  the  Platte 
district,  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  small  opposition 
minority.  He  fought  the  measure  from  its  introduction  to 
the  end  of  the  session. 

One  point  which  Judge  Norton  made  was  that  Missouri 
could  not  free  her  slaves  without  paying  the  owners  the  full 
equivalent  for  them.     He  said: 

"According  to  the  census  of  1860,  there  were  of  slaves  in  Mis- 
souri, about  120,000.  According  to  the  report  of  the  auditor  of 
the  State,  founded  upon  returns  made  for  the  year  1862  by  the 
assessors  of  forty-odd  counties,  there  can  not  now  be  less  than 
100,000  slaves  in  the  State.  In  my  judgment  not  over  5,000  of 
them  are  subject  to  confiscation  under  the  confiscation  law,  leaving 


86  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 

95,000  to  be  bought  and  paid  for.  Before  the  Legislature  can  eman- 
cipate them,  they  must  first  pay  a  full  equivalent  for  them.  Not 
an  equivalent  which  Congress  by  an  arbitrary  legislative  act  fixes; 
not  an  equivalent  which  legislative  enactment  declares,  but  the 
worth,  the  value  of  the  slave  as  ascertained  from  the  market  rate 
by  a  proceeding,  not  legislative  but  judicial  in  its  character.  I 
notice  sales  recently  made  in  Howard  County  in  the  district  of  my 
colleague  at  $900;  in  other  counties  at  from  $600  to  $700,  for  negro 
men.  These  figures  and  the  former  value  of  slaves  lead  me  to  con- 
clude that  the  average  value  of  slaves  in  the  State  would  not  fall 
below  $450.  Thus,  sir,  we  have  the  price,  being  $450,  and  the 
number  95,000  to  be  bought.  The  value  of  these  slaves  would  be 
$42,750,000.  By  this  bill  you  place  at  the  disposal  of  the  Governor 
$20,000,000  of  bonds;  and  if  the  Legislature,  out  of  the  state  treasury, 
could  also  appropriate  $22,750,000,  then  the  Legislature  could,  in 
twelve  months,  pass  a  valid  and  constitutional  law  for  the  emancipa- 
tion of  slaves  according  to  the  terms  of  the  bill.  But,  sir,  this  is 
impossible." 

Judge  Norton  took  the  position  that  the  general  govern- 
ment had  no  authority  to  carry  out  the  proposed  plan  of 
emancipation.     He  said: 

"The  citizens  of  Missouri  are  willing  to  acknowledge  their 
proper  and  just  allegiance  to  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
but  they  have  always  held  and  hold  to-day  that  under  the  obliga- 
tions of  that  allegiance,  fixed  and  defined  by  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  they  are  not  required  to  give  up  their  state 
rights  and  bow  down  in  the  dust  like  serfs  and  slaves  to  federal 
dictation,  or  the  dictation  of  any  one  or  more  States  of  the  Union. 
Missouri  has  rights  as  a  State  of  the  Union.  Missouri  has  rights 
as  a  State  of  this  Union  which  you  dare  not  invade  without  dis- 
regarding your  oaths  and  trampling  in  the  dust  the  Constitution 
watered  vvith  the  blood  of  your  Revolutionary  sires.  You  can  not 
abolish  our  state  courts,  nor  our  Legislature;  nor  can  you  deprive 
us  of  two  Senators  or  our  proper  number  of  Representatives  upon 
this  floor.  You  cannot  make  local  laws  for  our  local  internal  police 
government  conflicting  with  the  reserved  rights  of  the  State  and  the 
people.  While  you  can  not  do  any  of  these  things,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  neither  can  you  by  direction  or  indirection,  as  you 
propose  by  this  bill,  abolish  slavery.  That  is  as  much  their  con- 
cern as  is  the  election  of  their  Legislature.  The  people  of  that  State 
are  a  brave,  magnanimous,  patriotic  and  just-minded  people;  and 
whenever  in  the  exercise  of  their  virtues  they  determine  that  it  is 
for  their  interest  and  to  the  interest  of  the  State  and  country  gen- 
erally that  the  institution  of  slavery  should  be  abolished  in  a  legal 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  87 

and  constitutional  mode,  all  citizens  of  the  State  will  agree  to  their 
verdict  and  sanction  their  action.  You  do  not  propose  to  have  it 
accomplished  in  this  way,  but  are  for  stepping  in  and  settling  the 
matter  at  once." 

In  conclusion  Judge  Norton  pictured  the  horrors  as  he 
foresaw  them  of  a  free  negro 'population  in  Missouri: 

"Under  this  bill  you  propose  to  turn  adrift  upon  the  people  of 
the  State  100,000  persons  without  a  dollar,  without  homes  or  pro- 
vision made  for  them  to  get  homes,  persons  of  all  ages,  sexes  and 
conditions,  the  old  and  infirm,  the  halt,  lame  and  blind,  the  young 
and  defenseless,  in  one  promiscuous  mass.  Is  this  humanity? 
Humanitarians  on  the  other  side  of  the  House  may  answer.  The 
original  bill  pledged  the  faith  of  this  Government  to  take  the  eman- 
cipated slaves  out  of  the  State;  the  substitute  adopted  by  the  Senate, 
and  now  here  for  action,  strikes  this  provision  out,  thus  converting 
Missouri  into  a  free  negro  State.  You  can  not  inflict  a  greater 
injury  on  Missouri  than  thus  to  fill  up  her  communities  with  this 
kind  of  worthless  population.  A  free  negro  population  is  the 
greatest  curse  to  any  country." 

SCHOFIELD   AND   MISSOURI. 

The  first  day  of  January,  1863,  was  one  of  the  most 
momentous  in  the  administration  of  President  Lincoln. 
That  day,  after  receiving  the  suggestions  of  his  cabinet  and 
after  much  consideration  as  to  form  and  effect  of  what  he 
was  about  to  do,  the  President  signed  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation.  The  next  day  he  took  up  and,  as  he  evidently 
supposed,  solved  a  Missouri  problem.  This  was  the  Pine 
Street  Presbyterian  church  controversy.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Mc- 
Pheeters  had  baptized  a  little  Missouri  baby  with  the  name 
of  Sterling  Price.  This  was  one  of  the  charges  made  against 
Dr.  McPheeters  by  some  members  of  his  congregation  who 
admitted  his  piety  but  questioned  his  loyalty.  The  charges 
were  laid  before  the  provost  marshal.  That  functionary 
ordered  the  arrest  of  the  divine  and  took  charge  of  the  church, 
relieving  the  trustees.  The  issue  was  carried  to  the  White 
House,  as  was  the  custom,  and  the  President,  turning  from 
weighty  matters,  wrote  to  General  Curtis,  commanding  at 
St.  Louis: 


88  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

"The  United  States  must  not,  as  by  this  order,  undertake 
to  run  the  churches.  When  an  individual  in  a  church,  or 
out  of  it,  becomes  dangerous  to  the  pubHc  interest  he  must 
be  checked;  but  let  the  churches,  as  such,  take  care  of  them- 
selves." 

Doubtless  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  he  had  laid  down  a 
broad  principle  that  would  relieve  him  of  further  appeals 
from  either  party  to  the  Pine  Street  Presbyterian  church 
differences.  Dr.  McPheeters  was  discharged  from  arrest. 
The  President  was  immediately  asked  to  restore  to  Dr. 
McPheeters  his  ecclesiastical  rights.  His  reply  was  addressed 
to  O.  D.  Filley,  the  head  of  the  St.  Louis  Committee  of  Public 
Safety. 

"I  have  never  interfered,"  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote,  "nor 
thought  of  interfering,  as  to  who  shall,  or  shall  not,  preach 
in  any  church;  nor  have  I  knowingly  or  believingly  tolerated 
any  one  to  so  interfere  by  my  authority.  If,  after  all,  what 
is  now  sought  is  to  have  me  put  Dr.  McPheeters  back  over 
the  heads  of  a  majority  of  his  own  congregation,  that,  too, 
will  be  declined.  I  will  not  have  control  of  any  church,  on 
any  side." 

Individual,  as  well  as  church  and  state  problems  in 
Missouri,  were  put  up  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  On  the  7th  of  January, 
the  same  week  that  the  President  had,  as  he  thought,  dis- 
posed of  the  Pine  Street  Presbyterian  trouble,  he  received 
a  message  from  B.  Gratz  Brown.  The  telegram  was  sent 
from  Jefferson  City.  The  Legislature  had  assembled.  Mr. 
Brown  was  a  candidate  for  the  United  States  Senate.  He 
was  elected  but  not  until  after  he  had  encountered  some 
difficulties.     He  wired: 

"Does  the  administration  desire  my  defeat;  if  not,  why 
are  its  appointees  working  to  that  end?" 

President  Lincoln  replied  promptly  but  in  language  that 
was  diplomatic  and  perhaps  somewhat  cryptic: 

"Yours  of  today  just  received.  The  administration 
takes  no  part  between  its  friends  in  Missouri,  of  whom  I, 
at  least,  consider  you  one,  and  I  have  never  before  had  an 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  89 

intimation  that  appointees  there  were  interfering,  or  were 
inclined  to  interfere." 

Charcoals  and  Claybanks  the  two  factions  of  loyal 
Missourians  were  called.  Mr.  Lincoln  tried  to  be  neutral 
between  them.  In  spirit,  if  not  in  so  many  words,  his  attitude 
was,  "You  all  look  alike  to  me."  He  would  not  take  sides 
but  occasionally  he  expressed  himself  vigorously  on  the  un- 
happy family  situation.  In  the  spring  of  1863  a  Charcoal 
appeal  was  made  to  the  President.     Mr.  Lincoln  replied: 

"In  answer  to  the  within  question  'Shall  we  be  sustained 
by  you?'  I  have  to  answer  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Ad- 
ministration I  appointed  one  whom  I  understood  to  be  an 
editor  of  the  'Democrat'  to  be  postmaster  at  St.  Louis — 
the  best  office  in  my  gift  within  Missouri.  Soon  after  this, 
our  friends  at  St.  Louis  must  needs  break  into  factions,  the 
Democrat  being,  in  my  opinion,  justly  chargeable  with  a  full 
share  of  the  blame  for  it.  I  have  stoutly  tried  to  keep  out 
of  the  quarrel,  and  so  mean  to  do." 

President  Lincoln  continued  to  preserve  strict  neutrality 
between  the  Missouri  factions.  Judge  S.  P.  McCurdy,  of 
this  State,  was  a  candidate  for  an  appointment.  The  Presi- 
dent, with  his  own  hand,  indorsed  Judge  McCurdy's  appli- 
cation : 

"This  is  a  good  recommendation  for  a  territorial  judge- 
ship, embracing  both  sides  in  Missouri  and  many  other 
respectable  gentlemen. 

A.   Lincoln." 

The  President  didn't  believe  in  holding  Missourians  to 
strict  account  for  what  they  might  have  said  in  the  heat  of 
oratory.  Prince  L.  Hudgins,  a  lawyer  quite  well  known  in 
the  war  period,  was  charged  with  conspiring  against  the  gov- 
ernment. He  wrote  to  President  Lincoln  explaining  that 
the  charge  was  based  on  a  speech  he  had  made  in  St.  Joseph 
several  months  before  the  law  under  which  he  was  being 
prosecuted  was  enacted.  Congressman  King  went  to  the 
White  House  and  recommended  a  pardon  for  Hudgins.  The 
President  wrote  on  the  papers: 


90  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

"Attorney  General:  Please  see  Mr.  King  and  make  out 
the  pardon  he  asks.     Give  this  man  a  fair  deal  if  possible." 

And  then,  perhaps  after  a  little  more  conversation  with 
the  Missouri  Congressman,  Mr.  Lincoln  added  this  to  his 
indorsement : 

"Gov.  King  leaves  Saturday  evening  and  would  want  to 
have  it  with  him  to  take  along,  if  possible.  Would  wish  it 
made  out  as  soon  as  conveniently  can  be." 

Grant,  Sherman  and  Sheridan  served  in  Missouri. 
These  three  generals,  who  afterwards  were  advanced  to  the 
highest  military  positions,  saw  their  earliest  war  service  in 
this  State.  President  Lincoln  came  to  have  the  greatest 
confidence  in  them.  He  placed  his  dependence  upon  them 
for  ultimate  success  of  the  Union  armies  in  the  closing  year. 
Who  can  tell  in  what  measure  the  recognition  of  these  three 
generals  was  in  the  end  due  to  the  intimate  and  anxious 
interest  with  which  Mr.  Lincoln  followed  those  early  develop- 
ments in  Missouri!  The  Secretary  of  War  was  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. War  department  influences  were  eastern.  "On  to 
Richmond!"  was  the  cry  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  But 
President  Lincoln,  with  his  mind  on  the  situation  in  Missouri, 
took  a  different  view.  He  hardly  waited  until  Price's  army 
had  left  the  State  before  setting  in  motion  the  Mississippi 
river  campaign,  starting  from  Missouri.  He  wanted  to  cut 
the  Confederacy  in  two  by  way  of  the  river  and  prevent  food 
supplies  from  the  southwest  reaching  the  cotton  States. 
Montgomery  Blair,  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  gave  this 
among  other  reminiscences: 

"One  day  in  cabinet  meeting,  Lincoln  turned  to  the  Secretary 
of  War  and  asked,  'Did  we  not  receive  a  communication  sometime 
last  spring  from  a  man  named  Grant  out  at  Springfield,  forwarded 
by  Governor  Yates,  laying  out  a  plan  of  campaign  down  the  Mis- 
sissippi?' The  Secretary  replied  that  he  believed  such  a  paper 
had  been  received.  The  President  requested  him  to  have  it  looked 
up,  which  was  done,  and  it  was  read  in  cabinet  meeting.  It  made 
a  strong  impression  on  all  its  members,  Lincoln  remarking  that  at 
the  time  it  was  received  it  had  impressed  him  favorably,  but  in  the 
multiplicity  of  cares  it  had  been  forgotten  until  now,  when  he  had 
received  a  communication  from  Representative  Washburne  calling 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURL  91 

attention  to  General  Grant  and  suggesting  that  he  be  sent  to  Cairo. 
Lincoln  then  said,  'Mr.  Secretary,  send  an  order  to  General  Fremont 
to  put  Grant  in  command  of  the  district  of  Southeast  Missouri.'  " 

Grant  went  to  this  new  command,  he  moved  to  Cairo, 
took  Paducah,  fought  the  battle  of  Belmont,  captured  Fort 
Donelson.  The  movement  down  the  Mississippi  did  not 
progress  as  loyal  Missourians  thought  it  should.  Judge 
Samuel  Treat  of  the  federal  court  at  St.  Louis  wrote  to  Judge 
Davis,  presenting  the  importance  of  the  Mississippi  river 
campaign  as  it  appeared  to  him.  He  received  in  reply  a 
letter  from  President  Lincoln,  the  original  of  which  is  pre- 
served by  the  Missouri  Historical  Society: 

Private.  Executive  Mansion, 

Washington,   Nov.    19,    1862. 
Judge  S.  Treat, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 
My  dear  sir: 

Your  very  patriotic  and  judicious  letter,  addressed  to  Judge 
Davis,  in  relation  to  the  Mississippi,  has  been  left  with  me  for 
perusal.  You  do  not  estimate  the  value  of  the  object  you  press 
more  highly  than  it  is  estimated  here.  It  is  now  the  object  of  par- 
ticular attention.  It  has  not  been  neglected,  as  you  seem  to  think, 
because  the  West  was  divided  into  different  military  districts. 
The  cause  is  much  deeper.  The  country  will  not  allow  us  to  send 
our  whole  western  force  down  the  Mississippi,  while  the  enemy 
sacks  LouisviUe  and  Cincinnati.  Probably  it  would  be  better  if  the 
country  would  aUow  this,  but  it  will  not.  I  confidently  believed 
last  September  that  we  could  end  the  war  by  allowing  the  enemy 
to  go  to  Harrisburg  and  Philadelphia,  only  that  we  could  not  keep 
down  mutiny,  and  utter  demoralization  among  the  Pennsylvanians. 
And  this,  though  unhandy  sometimes,  is  not  at  all  strange.  I 
presume  if  an  army  was  starting  to-day  for  New  Orleans,  and  you 
confidently  believed  that  St.  Louis  would  be  sacked  in  consequence, 
you  would  be  in  favor  of  stopping  such  army. 

We  are  compelled  to  watch  all  these  things. 
With  great  respect 

Your  obt.  servant, 

A.    Lincoln. 


92  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 


THE   MISSOURI    COMMITTEE    OF    SEVENTY. 

After  Fremont  came  in  succession  Hunter,  Halleck, 
Curtis  and  Schofield  as  military  commanders  to  deal  with 
the  confusing  situation  in  Missouri.  In  1862  there  was  issued 
by  the  general  then  commanding  an  order  "to  assess  and 
collect  without  unnecessary  delay  the  sum  of  $500,000  from 
the  secessionists  and  southern  sympathizers"  of  the  city  and 
county  of  St.  Louis.  The  order  stated  that  the  money  was 
to  be  "used  in  subsisting,  clothing  and  arming  the  enrolled 
militia  while  in  active  service,  and  in  providing  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  families  of  such  militiamen  and  United  States 
volunteers  as  may  be  destitute."  The  assessment  was  begun. 
Collections  were  enforced  by  the  military.  Rev.  Dr.  William 
G.  Eliot,  founder  of  Washington  University,  wrote  a  memorial 
that  the  assessment  was  "working  evil  in  this  community 
and  doing  great  harm  to  the  Union  cause.  Among  our 
citizens  are  all  shades  of  opinion,  from  that  kind  of  neutrality 
which  is  hatred  in  disguise,  through  all  the  grades  of  luke- 
warmness,  'sympathy'  and  hesitating  zeal  up  to  the  full 
loyalty  which  your  memorialists  claim  to  possess.  To  assort 
and  classify  them,  so  as  to  indicate  the  dividing  line  of  loyalty 
and  disloyalty,  and  to  establish  the  rates  of  payment  by  those 
falling  below  it  is  a  task  of  great  difficulty." 

Reviewing  the  assessment  as  far  as  it  had  progressed. 
Dr.  Eliot  continued:  "The  natural  consequence  has  been 
that  many  feel  themselves  aggrieved,  not  having  supposed 
themselves  liable  to  a  suspicion  of  disloyalty;  many  escape 
assessment  who,  if  any,  deserve  it;  and  a  general  feeling  of 
inequality  in  the  rule  and  ratio  of  assessments  prevails. 
This  was  unavoidable  for  no  two  tribunals  could  agree  upon 
the  details  of  such  an  assessment  either  as  to  the  persons  or 
amounts  to  be  assessed  without  more  complete  knowledge 
of  facts  than  are  to  be  attained  from  ex-parte  testimony  and 
current  reports." 

The  memorial  was  sent  to  President  Lincoln.  Very 
promptly  came  the  order  from  Washington: 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURL 


93 


"As  there  seems  to  be  no  present  military  necessity  for 
the  enforcement  of  this  assessment,  all  proceedings  under 
the  order  will  be  suspended." 

But  the  assessment  policy  was  continued  in  the  interior 
of  the  State.  One  of  the  orders  called  for  an  assessment  of 
$5,000  for  every  Union  soldier  or  Union  citizen  killed  and 
$1,000  for  every  Union  soldier  or  Union  citizen  wounded  by 
the  bushwhackers  or  guerilla  bands.  The  President  wrote 
to  General  Curtis  one  of  his  friendly  letters  on  the  Missouri 
situation  and  suggested  that  he  stop  these  assessments. 
General  Curtis  wrote  at  considerable  length  in  reply.  He 
told  how  the  assessment  policy  had  begun  under  the  provost 
marshal  system  started  by  Fremont  and  continued  by  Hal- 
leck  and  by  himself.  He  argued  in  favor  of  its  continuance. 
Then  by  general  order  the  President  suspended  these  assess- 
ments in  Missouri. 

In  March  the  quarrel  between  the  factions  had  reached 
such  a  stage  that  the  President  relieved  General  Curtis. 
Missourians  calling  at  the  White  House  found  in  the  Presi- 
dent's welcome  a  note  of  weariness  as  he  referred  to  his 
efforts  to  keep  peace  between  the  discordant  elements.  One 
of  these  visitors  returning  to  St.  Louis  quoted  the  President 
as  saying: 

"The  dissensions  between  Union  men  in  Missouri  are  due 
solely  to  a  factious  spirit,  which  is  exceedingly  reprehensible. 
The  two  parties  ought  to  have  their  heads  knocked  together." 

The  President  appointed  General  Schofield  to  the  com- 
mand in  Missouri  and  on  the  27th  of  May  wrote  him  this 
letter  for  guidance: 

"Having  relieved  General  Curtis  and  assigned  you  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Department  of  Missouri,  I  think  it  may  be  some  ad- 
vantage for  me  to  state  to  you  why  I  did  it.  I  did  not  relieve 
General  Curtis  because  of  any  full  conviction  that  he  had  done 
wrong  by  commission  or  omission.  I  did  it  because  of  a  conviction 
in  my  mind  that  the  Union  men  of  Missouri,  constituting  when 
united,  a  vast  majority  of  the  whole  people,  have  entered  into  a 
pestilent  factional  quarrel  among  themselves — General  Curtis, 
perhaps  not  from  choice,  being  the  head  of  one  faction,  and  Governor 
Gamble  that  of  the  other.     After  months  of  labor  to  reconcile  the 


94  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

difficulty,  it  seemed  to  grow  worse  and  worse,  until  I  felt  it  my  duty 
to  break  it  up  somehow;  and  as  I  could  not  remove  Governor  Gam- 
ble, I  had  to  remove  General  Curtis.  Now  that  you  are  in  the  posi- 
tion, I  wish  you  to  undo  nothing  merely  because  General  Curtis 
or  Governor  Gamble  did  it,  but  to  exercise  your  own  judgment 
and  do  right  for  the  public  interest. 

"Let  your  military  measures  be  strong  enough  to  repel  the 
invader  and  to  keep  the  peace,  and  not  so  strong  as  to  unnecessarily 
harass  and  persecute  the  people.  It  is  a  difficult  role,  and  so  much 
greater  will  be  the  honor  if  you  perform  it  well.  If  both  factions, 
or  neither,  shall  abuse  you,  you  will  probably  be  about  right.  Be- 
ware of  being  assailed  by  one  and  praised  by  the  other. 

Yours  truly, 

A   Lincoln." 

The  Schofield  letter  became  public, — "surreptitiously" 
the  President  subsequently  explained.  It  prompted  Governor 
Gamble  to  write,  complaining  of  the  reference  to  him  as 
heading  one  of  the  parties  to  a  "pestilent  factional  quarrel." 
Mr.  Lincoln  replied  acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  letter 
and  saying  he  had  not  read  it  and  did  not  intend  to  read  it. 

On  the  last  day  of  September,  1863,  came  a  crisis  in  the 
relationship  of  Lincoln  and  Missouri.  At  nine  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  the  President  came  into  the  great  east  room  of  the 
White  House.  Awaiting  him  were  seventy  "Radical  LTnion 
men  of  Missouri."  They  had  accepted  that  designation. 
They  had  been  chosen  at  a  mass  convention, — "the  largest 
mass  convention  ever  held  in  the  State,"  their  credentials 
said.  That  convention  had  appointed  these  seventy  Mis- 
sourians  to  proceed  to  Washington  and  "to  procure  a  change 
in  the  governmental  policy  in  reference  to  Missouri." 

Lincoln's  reply  to  the  committee. 

This  meant  more  than  a  state  movement.  It  had  taken 
on  the  voice  of  the  radical  anti-slavery  elements  of  the  whole 
country,  speaking  through  Missouri.  It  demanded  that 
President  Lincoln  now  commit  himself  to  universal  abolition 
of  slavery  and  to  the  general  use  of  negro  troops  against  the 
Confederate  armies.  It  was  the  uprising  of  those  who  thought 
Mr.  Lincoln's  administration  too  mild.  The  President  under- 
stood well  what  the  coming  of  the  delegation  meant.     One 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  95 

who  was  there  said  that  when  Mr.  Lincoln  came  into  the 
room  "he  bore  the  appearance  of  being  much  depressed,  as 
if  the  matters  at  issue  in  the  conference  which  was  impending 
were  of  great  anxiety  and  trouble  to  him."  The  Missourians 
were  realizing  the  national  scope  of  their  mission.  On  the 
way  to  Washington  they  had  stopped  at  several  places  and 
had  received  enthusiastic  encouragement  from  the  abolition- 
ists. They  had  been  urged  to  stand  firm  on  the  platform  that 
slavery  by  the  loyal  owners  in  the  border  States  must  be 
wiped  out,  and  that  without  compensation.  On  their  ar- 
rival in  Washington  the  seventy  had  drawn  up  an  address 
to  the  President  and  had  put  into  it  this  declaration: 

We  rejoice  that  in  your  proclamation  of  January  1,  1863,  you 
laid  the  mighty  hand  of  the  nation  upon  that  gigantic  enemy  of 
American  liberty,  and  we  and  our  constituents  honor  you  for  that 
wise  and  noble  act.  We  and  they  hold  that  that  proclamation  did, 
in  law,  by  its  own  force,  liberate  every  slave  in  the  region  it  covered; 
that  it  is  irrevocable,  and  that  from  the  moment  of  its  issue  the 
American  people  stood  in  an  impregnable  position  before  the  world 
and  the  rebellion  received  its  death  blow.  If  you,  Mr.  President, 
felt  that  duty  to  your  country  demanded  that  you  should  unshackle 
the  slaves  of  the  rebel  States  in  an  hour,  we  see  no  earthly  reason 
why  the  people  of  Missouri  should  not,  from  the  same  sense  of  duty, 
strike  down  with  equal  suddenness  the  traitorous  and  parricidal 
institution  in  their  midst. 

This  was  the  essence  of  the  Missouri  movement  which 
gave  it  national  interest,  which  prompted  the  grand  chorus 
of  approval  from  the  anti-slavery  people  of  the  North.  It 
led  to  the  series  of  indorsing  ovations,  concluding  with  the 
chief  demonstration  in  Cooper  Institute,  New  York  City, 
where  the  seventy  Missourians  were  welcomed  by  William 
Cullen  Bryant. 

There  were  events  and  conditions,  apart  from  what  was 
going  on  in  Missouri,  which  added  to  the  importance  of  this 
conference  between  Mr.  Lincoln  and  the  seventy.  The 
week  before  the  delegation  started  from  St.  Louis  for  Washing- 
ton, that  bloodiest  battle,  Chickamauga,  was  fought.  The 
whole  North  was  depressed  by  the  narrow  escape  of  Rose- 
crans'  army.     When  the  Missourians  arrived  in  Washington, 

3 


96  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

Hooker's  army  was  marching  all  night  over  the  Long  Bridge 
out  of  Virginia  and  into  the  capital  to  take  trains  for  the 
roundabout  journey  to  Chattanooga,  that  these  troops 
might  re-enforce  those  penned  and  save  them  from  being 
forced  north  of  the  Tennessee  by  Bragg.  Meade's  failure  to 
follow  up  the  success  at  Gettysburg  in  July  previous  had 
given  dissatisfaction.  There  was  division  in  the  cabinet 
over  administration  policies.  The  Presidential  campaign 
would  come  on  in  a  few  months.  Perhaps,  at  no  other  time 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war  had  President  Lincoln  faced 
more  discouraging  criticism  and  hostile  opinion.  And  now 
came  these   Missourians  to  add  to  the  burden. 

The  address  which  the  seventy  had  prepared  was  read 
to  the  President.  For  half  an  hour,  the  chairman,  Charles 
D.  Drake,  read  in  a  deep,  sonorous  voice,  slowly  and  impres- 
sively. The  origin  and  development  of  antagonism  between 
the  Gamble  administration  and  the  radical  Union  men  was 
reviewed  at  length.  The  address  charged  Governor  Gamble 
with  the  intention  to  preserve  slavery  in  Missouri  and  as- 
serted "the  Radicals  of  Missouri  desired  and  demanded  the 
election  of  a  new  convention  for  the  purpose  of  ridding  the 
State  of  slavery  immediately."  It  dwelt  upon  the  "proslavery 
character"  of  Governor  Gamble's  policy  and  acts. 

"From  the  antagonisms  of  the  Radicals  to  such  a  policy," 
the  address  proceeded,  "have  arisen  the  conflicts  which  you, 
Mr.  President,  have  been  pleased  heretofore  to  term  a  'fac- 
tional quarrel.  With  all  respect  we  deny  that  the  Radicals 
of  Missouri  have  been,  or  are  in  any  sense,  a  party  to  any 
such  quarrel.  We  are  no  factionists;  but  men  earnestly 
intent  upon  doing  our  part  toward  rescuing  this  great  nation 
from  the  assaults  which  slavery  is  aiming  at  its  life."  This 
reference  in  the  address  was  to  the  personal  letter  from  the 
President  to  General  Schofield. 

The  climax  was  reached  when  these  "seventy  radical 
Union  men"  submitted  their  request  that  Ben  Butler,  whose 
drastic  measures  toward  the  South  were  causing  much  talk, 
be  sent  to  succeed  Schofield: 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURL  97 

We  ask,  further,  Mr.  President,  that  in  the  place  of  General 
Schofield  a  department  commander  be  assigned  to  the  Department 
of  Missouri  whose  sympathies  will  be  with  Missouri's  loyal  and 
suffering  people,  and  not  with  slavery  and  proslavery  men.  General 
Schofield  has  disappointed  our  just  expectations  by  identifying 
himself  with  our  state  administration,  and  his  policy  as  department 
commander  has  been,  as  we  believe,  shaped  to  conform  to  Governor 
Gamble's  proslavery  and  conservative  views.  He  has  subordinated 
federal  authority  in  Missouri  to  state  rule.  He  has  become  a  party 
to  the  enforcement  of  conscription  into  the  state  service.  He  has 
countenanced,  if  not  sustained,  the  orders  issued  from  the  state 
headquarters,  prohibiting  enlistments  from  the  enrolled  militia 
into  the  volunteer  service  of  the  United  States.  Officers  acting 
under  him  have  arbitrarily  arrested  and  imprisoned  loyal  citizens, 
without  assigned  cause,  or  for  daring  to  censure  Governor  Gamble's 
policy  and  acts.  Other  such  officers  have  ordered  loyal  men  to  be 
disarmed,  and  in  some  instances  the  order  has  been  executed,  while, 
under  the  pretense  of  preventing  an  invasion  of  Missouri  from  Kansas, 
notorious  and  avowed  disloyalists  have  been  armed.  He  has  issued 
a  military  order  prohibiting  the  liberty  of  speech  and  of  the  press. 
An  officer  in  charge  of  negro  recruits  that  had  been  enlisted  under 
lawful  authority,  as  we  are  informed  and  believe,  was  on  the  20th 
inst.  arrested  in  Missouri  by  Brigadier  General  Guitar,  acting  under 
General  Schofield's  orders,  his  commission,  sidearms  and  recruits 
taken  from  him,  and  he  imprisoned  and  sent  out  of  the  State.  And, 
finally,  we  declare  to  you,  Mr.  President,  that  from  the  day  of 
General  Schofield's  accession  to  the  command  of  that  department, 
matters  have  grown  worse  and  worse  in  Missouri,  till  now  they  are 
in  a  more  terrible  condition  than  they  have  been  at  any  time  since 
the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion.  This  could  not  be  if  General  Scho- 
field had  administered  the  affairs  of  that  department  with  proper 
vigor  and  with  a  resolute  purpose  to  sustain  loyalty  and  suppress 
disloyalty.  We,  therefore,  respectfully  pray  you  to  send  another 
general  to  command  that  department;  and,  if  we  do  not  overstep 
the  bounds  of  propriety,  we  ask  that  the  commander  sent  there  be 
Major  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler.  We  believe  that  his  presence 
there  would  restore  order  and  peace  to  Missouri  in  less  than  sixty 
days. 

The  closing  paragraph  of  the  address  was  calculated  to 
impress  Mr.  Lincoln  with  the  intensity  of  feeling  prompting 
the  delegation.  Perhaps  in  the  history  of  White  House 
conferences  such  strong  language  was  never  before  used  by 
citizens  to  place  personal  responsibility  upon  a  President: 


98  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

Whether  the  loyal  hearts  of  Missouri  shall  be  crushed  is  for  you 
to  say.  If  you  refuse  our  requests,  we  return  to  our  homes  only  to 
witness,  in  consequence  of  that  refusal,  a  more  active  and  relentless 
persecution  of  Union  men,  and  to  feel  that  while  Maryland  can 
rejoice  in  the  protection  of  the  government  of  the  Union,  Missouri 
is  still  to  be  a  victim  of  proslavery  conservatism,  which  blasts 
wherever  it  reigns.  Does  Missouri  deserve  such  a  fate?  What 
border  slave  State  confronted  the  rebellion  in  its  first  spring  as  she 
did?  Remember,  we  pray  you,  who  it  was  that  in  May,  1861, 
captured  Camp  Jackson  and  saved  the  arsenal  at  St.  Louis  from  the 
hands  of  traitors,  and  the  Union  cause  in  the  Valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi from  incalculable  disaster.  Remember  the  Home  Guards, 
who  sprung  to  arms  in  Missouri  when  the  government  was  without 
troops  or  means  to  defend  itself  there.  Remember  the  more  than 
50,000  volunteers  that  Missouri  has  sent  forth  to  battle  for  the 
Union.  Remember  that,  although  always  a  slave  State,  her  un- 
conditional loyalty  to  the  Union  shines  lustrously  before  the  whole 
nation.  Recall  to  memory  these  things,  Mr.  President,  and  let 
them  exert  their  just  influence  upon  your  mind.  We  ask  only 
justice  and  protection  to  our  suffering  people.  If  they  are  to  suffer 
hereafter,  as  now,  and  in  time  past,  the  world  will  remember  that 
they  are  not  responsible  for  the  gloomy  page  in  Missouri's  history, 
which  may  have  to  record  the  independent  efforts  of  her  harassed 
but  still  loyal  men  to  defend  themselves,  their  families  and  their 
homes  against  their  disloyal  and  murderous  assailants. 

The  names  of  the  seventy  were  signed  to  this  remarkable 
document.  Charles  D.  Drake  signed  first,  as  chairman.  He 
was  afterwards  a  Senator  from  Missouri  and  still  later  was 
chief  justice  of  the  court  of  claims  at  Washington.  Two 
Missouri  Congressmen,  Ben  Loan  and  J.  W.  McClurg,  the 
latter  afterwards  Governor,  signed  as  vice-chairmen  of  the 
delegation.  One  of  the  secretaries  was  Emil  Preetorius  of 
the  St.  Louis  Westliche  Post.  One  of  the  seventy  was  Enos 
Clarke  of  Kirkwood.  With  some  reluctance  Mr.  Clarke  talked 
recently  of  this  historic  occasion,  prefacing  that  it  is  difficult 
for  those  who  did  not  live  through  those  trying  times  in 
Missouri  to  appreciate  the  conditions  which  prevailed. 

"The  feeling  over  our  grievances  had  become  intense,"  he  said. 
"We  represented  the  extreme  anti-slavery  sentiment.  We  were 
the  Republicans  who  had  been  in  accord  with  Fremont's  position 
on  slavery.  Both  sides  of  the  controversy  had  repeatedly  pre- 
sented their  views  to  Mr.  Lincoln,  but  this  delegation  of  seventy 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI. 


99 


was  the  most  imposing  and  most  formal  protest  which  had  been 
made  against  the  Gamble  state  government  and  against  the  national 
administration's  policy  in  Missouri.  The  attention  of  the  whole 
country,  it  seemed,  had  been  drawn  to  this  Missouri  issue." 
"Who  was  the  author  of  the  address,  Mr.  Clarke?" 
"The  address  was  the  result  of  several  meetings  we  held  after 
we  reached  Washington.  We  were  there  nearly  a  week.  Arriving 
on  Saturday,  we  did  not  have  our  conference  at  the  White  House 
until  Wednesday.  Every  day  we  met  in  Willard's  Hall,  on  F  street, 
and  considered  the  address.  Mr.  Drake  would  read  over  a  few  para- 
graphs, and  we  would  discuss  them.  At  the  close  of  the  meeting  Mr. 
Drake  would  say,  'I  will  call  you  together  tomorrow  to  further 
consider  this  matter.'  In  that  way  the  address  progressed  to  the 
finish." 

"Did  the  President  seem  to  be  much  affected  by  the  reading?" 
"No.     And  at  the  conclusion  he  began  to  discuss  the  address 
in  a  manner  that  was  very  disappointing  to  us.     He  took  up  one 
phrase  after  another  and  talked  about  them  without  showing  much 
interest.     In  fact,  he  seemed  inclined  to  treat  many  of  the  matters 
contained  in  the  paper  as  of  little  importance.     The  things  which 
we  had  felt  to  be  so  serious  Mr.  Lincoln  treated  as  really  unworthy 
of  much  consideration.     That  was  the  tone  in  which  he  talked  at 
first.     He  minimized  what  seemed  to  us  most  important." 
"Did  he  indulge  in  any  story  or  humorous  comment?" 
"No.     There  was  nothing  that  seemed  like  levity  at  that  stage 
of   the   conference.     On   the   contrary,    the   President   was   almost 
impatient,  as  if  he  wished  to  get  through  with  something  disagreeable. 
When  he  had  expressed  the  opinion  that  things  were  not  so  serious 
as   we   thought   he   began   to   ask   questions,   many   of   them.     He 
elicited   answers   from   different   members   of   the   delegation.     He 
started  argument,  parrying  some  of  the  opinions  expressed  by  us 
and  advancing  opinions  contrary  to  the  conclusions  of  our  Com- 
mittee of  Seventy.     This  treatment  of  our  grievances  was  carried 
so  far  that  most  of  us  felt  a  sense  of  deep  chagrin.     But  after  con- 
tinuing in  this  line  for  some  time  the  President's  whole  manner 
underwent  change.     It  seemed  as  if  he  had  been  intent  upon  drawing 
us  out.     When  satisfied  that  he  fully  understood  us  and  had  measured 
the  strength  of  our  purpose,  the  depth  of  our  feeling,  he  took  up  the 
address  as  if  new.     He  handled  the  various  grievances  in  a  most 
serious  manner.     He  gave  us  the  impression  that  he  was  disposed 
to  regard  them  with  as  much  concern  as  we  did.     After  a  while  the 
conversation  became  colloquial  between  the  President  and  the  mem- 
bers of  the  delegation — more  informal  and  more  sympathetic.     The 
change  of  tone  made  us  feel  that  we  were  going  to  get  consideration." 
"Did  the  President  make  any  reference  to   that  part  of  the 
address  about  the  'factional  quarrel?'  " 


100  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

"Yes,  he  did.  And  it  was  about  the  only  thing  he  said  that  had 
a  touch  of  humor  in  that  long  conversation.  In  the  course  of  his 
reply  to  us  he  took  up  that  grievance.  'Why,'  he  said,  'you  are  a 
long  way  behind  the  times  in  complaining  of  what  I  said  upon  that 
point.  Governor  Gamble  was  ahead  of  you.  There  came  to  me 
some  time  ago  a  letter  complaining  because  I  had  said  that  he  was 
a  party  to  a  factional  quarrel,  and  I  answered  that  letter  without 
reading  it.'  The  features  of  the  president  took  on  a  whimsical  look 
as  he  continued:  'Maybe  you  would  like  to  know  how  I  could 
answer  it  without  reading  it.  Well,  I'll  tell  you.  My  private 
secretary  told  me  such  a  letter  had  been  received  and  I  sat  down 
and  wrote  to  Governor  Gamble  in  about  these  words:  'I  under- 
stand that  a  letter  has  been  received  from  you  complaining  that  I 
said  you  were  a  party  to  a  factional  quarrel  in  Missouri.  I  have 
not  read  that  letter,  and,  what  is  more,  I  never  will.'  With  that 
Mr.  Lincoln  dismissed  our  grievance  about  having  been  called 
parties  to  a  factional  quarrel.  He  left  us  to  draw  our  own  inference 
from  what  he  said,  as  he  had  left  Governor  Gamble  to  construe 
the  letter  without  help." 

"Did  the  conference  progress  to  satisfactory  conclusions  after 
the  President's  manner  changed?" 

"We  did  not  receive  specific  promises,  but  I  think  we  felt  much 
better  toward  the  close  than  we  had  felt  in  the  first  hoxir.  The 
President  spoke  generally  of  his  purposes  rather  than  with  reference 
to  conditions  in  Missouri.  Toward  the  close  of  the  conference  he 
went  on  to  speak  of  his  great  office,  of  its  burdens,  of  its  responsibili- 
ties and  duties.  Among  other  things  he  said  that  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  government  he  wanted  to  be  the  President  of  the  whole 
people  and  no  section.  He  thought  we,  possibly,  failed  to  com- 
prehend the  enormous  stress  that  rested  upon  him.  'It  is  my 
ambition  and  desire,'  he  said  with  considerable  feeling,  'to  so  ad- 
minister the  affairs  of  the  government  while  I  remain  President  that 
if  at  the  end  I  shall  have  lost  every  other  friend  on  earth  I  shall  at 
least  have  one  friend  remaining  and  that  one  shall  be  down  inside 
of  me.'  " 

"How  long  did  the  conference  continue?" 

"Three  hours.  It  was  nearing  noon  when  the  President  said 
what  I  have  just  quoted.  That  seemed  to  be  the  signal  to  end  the 
conference.  Mr.  Drake  stepped  forward  and  addressing  the  Presi- 
dent, who  was  standing,  said,  with  deliberation  and  emphasis:  'The 
hour  has  come  when  we  can  no  longer  trespass  upon  your  attention. 
Having  submitted  to  you  in  a  formal  way  a  statement  of  our  griev- 
ances, we  will  take  leave  of  you,  asking  the  privilege  that  each 
member  of  the  delegation  may  take  you  by  the  hand.  But,  in 
taking  leave  of  you,  Mr.  President,  let  me  say  to  you  many  of  these 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  101 

gentlemen  return  to  a  border  State  filled  with  disloyal  sentiment. 
If  upon  their  return  there  the  military  policies  of  your  administration 
shall  subject  them  to  risk  of  life  in  the  defense  of  the  government 
and  their  blood  shall  be  shed — let  me  tell  you,  Mr.  President,  that 
their  blood  shall  be  upon  your  garments  and  not  upon  ours.'  " 

"How  did  the  President  receive  that?" 

"With  great  emotion.  Tears  trickled  down  his  face,  as  we  filed 
by  shaking  his  hand." 

In  an  old  scrapbook  kept  by  Enos  Clark  in  the  war  and 
reconstruction  period  is  preserved  the  reply  of  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  the  "seventy  radical  Union  men  of  Missouri."  On  the 
evening  of  the  day  that  the  seventy  were  at  the  White  House 
they  were  given  a  reception  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
Mr.  Chase.  This  was  considered  significant.  At  that  time 
there  was  much  talk  of  Chase  for  the  Presidential  nomination 
by  the  radical  opposition  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  Secretary  was 
alleged  to  be  intriguing  for  the  nomination. 

From  Washington  the  seventy  Missourians  went  to  New 
York  City  to  be  honored  by  the  anti-slavery  people  at  a  great 
mass  meeting  in  Cooper  Institute.  Charles  P.  Johnson  was 
the  orator  chosen  by  the  Missourians  to  reply  to  the  welcome. 

On  the  5th  of  October,  only  five  days  after  he  received 
the  Missourians,  the  President  sent  his  reply.  There  are 
few  letters  by  Mr.  Lincoln  as  long  as  this  one  on  the  Missouri 
situation.  The  analysis  of  causes  and  conditions  in  this 
State,  when  the  war  was  half  over,  has  no  equal  in  print.  It 
showed  complete  comprehension  of  the  troubles  and  sug- 
gested common  sense  remedies.  It  is  a  revelation  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  clear  vision  in  the  midst  of  the  most  conflicting 
and  confusing  reports.  This  letter,  in  its  entirety,  deserves 
prominent  place  in  the  war  period  of  the  history  of  Missouri: 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  October  5,  1863. 

Hon.  Charles  D.  Drake  and  others,  Committee: 

Gentlemen:  Your  original  address,  presented  on  the  30th 
ultimo,  and  the  four  supplementary  ones  presented  on  the  3rd 
instant,  have  been  carefully  considered.  I  hope  you  will  regard 
the  other  duties  claiming  my  attention,  together  with  the  great 
length  and  importance  of  these  documents,  as  constituting  a  sufB- 


102  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

cient  apology  for  my  not  having  responded  sooner.  These  papers, 
framed  for  a  common  object,  consist  of  things  demanded,  and  the 
reasons  for  demanding  them.     The  things  demanded  are — 

First.  That  General  Schofield  shall  be  relieved,  and  General 
Butler  be  appointed  as  commander  of  the  Military  Department 
of  Missouri; 

Second.  That  the  system  of  Enrolled  Militia  in  Missouri  may 
be  broken  up,  and  national  forces  substituted  for  it,  and 

Third.  That  at  elections,  persons  may  not  be  allowed  to  vote 
who  are  not  entitled  by  law  to  do  so. 

Among  the  reasons  given,  enough  of  suffering  and  wrong  to 
Union  men  is  certainly,  and  I  suppose,  truly  stated.  Yet  the 
whole  case  presented  fails  to  convince  me  that  General  Schofield, 
or  the  Enrolled  Militia,  is  responsible  for  that  suffering  and  wrong. 
The  whole  can  be  explained  on  a  more  charitable,  and,  I  think,  a 
more  rational  hypothesis. 

We  are  in  civil  war.  In  such  cases  there  always  is  a  main 
question,  but  in  this  case  that  question  is  a  perplexing  compound — 
Union  and  slavery.  It  thus  becomes  a  question  not  of  two  sides 
merely,  but  of  at  least  four  sides,  even  among  those  who  are  for  the 
Union,  saying  nothing  of  those  who  are  against  it.  Thus  those  who 
are  for  the  Union  with  but  not  without  slavery;  those  for  it  without 
but  not  with;  those  for  it  with  or  without  but  prefer  it  with;  those  for 
it  with  or  without  but  prefer  it  without.  Among  these,  again,  is  a  sub- 
division of  those  who  are  for  gradual  but  not  for  immediate,  and 
those  who  are  for  immediate,  but  not  for  gradual,  extinction  of 
slavery. 

It  is  easy  to  conceive  that  all  these  shades  of  opinion,  and  even 
more,  may  be  sincerely  entertained  by  honest  and  truthful  men. 
Yet  all  being  for  the  Union,  by  reason  of  these  differences  each  will 
prefer  a  different  way  of  sustaining  the  Union.  At  once  sincerity 
is  questioned  and  motives  assailed.  Actual  war  coming,  blood 
grows  hot  and  blood  is  spilled.  Thought  is  forced  from  old  channels 
into  confusion.  Deception  breeds  and  thrives.  Confidence  dies, 
and  universal  suspicion  reigns.  Each  man  feels  an  impulse  to  kill 
his  neighbor  lest  he  be  killed  by  him.  Revenge  and  retaliation 
follow.  And  all  this,  as  before  said,  may  be  among  honest  men 
only.  But  this  is  not  all.  Every  foul  bird  comes  abroad  and  every 
dirty  reptile  rises  up.  These  add  crime  to  confusion.  Strong 
measures,  deemed  indispensable  but  harsh  at  best,  such  men  make 
worse  by  maladministration.  Murders  for  old  grudges  and  murders 
for  pelf  proceed  under  any  cloak  that  will  best  cover  for  the  occasion. 
These  causes  amply  account  for  what  has  occurred  in  Missoxu-i, 
without  ascribing  it  to  the  weakness  or  wickedness  of  any  general. 

The  newspaper  files,  those  chroniclers  of  current  events,  will 
show  the  evils  now  complained  of  were  as  prevalent  under  Fremont, 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  103 

Hunter,  Halleek  and  Curtis,  as  under  Schofield.  If  the  fornaer  had 
greater  force  opposed  to  them,  they  also  had  greater  force  with  which 
to  meet  it.  When  the  organized  army  left  the  State,  the  main 
federal  force  had  to  go  also,  leaving  the  department  commander 
at  home,  relatively,  no  stronger  than  before.  Without  disparaging 
any,  I  affirm  with  confidence,  that  no  commander  of  that  department 
has,  in  proportion  to  his  means,  done  better  than  General  Schofield. 

The  first  specific  charge  against  General  Schofield  is,  that  the 
Enrolled  Militia  was  placed  under  his  command,  whereas  it  had 
not  been  placed  under  the  command  of  General  Curtis.  The  fact 
I  believe  is  true;  but  you  do  not  point  out,  nor  can  I  conceive  how  that 
did,  or  could  injure  loyal  men,  or  the  Union  cause. 

You  charge  that  upon  General  Curtis  being  superseded  by 
General  Schofield,  Franklin  A.  Dick  was  superseded  by  James  O. 
Broadhead  as  provost  marshal  general.  No  very  specific  showing 
is  made  as  to  how  this  did  or  could  injure  the  Union  cause.  It 
recalls,  however,  the  conditions  of  things,  as  presented  to  me,  which 
led  to  a  change  of  commander  for  that  department. 

To  restrain  contraband  intelligence  and  trade,  a  system  of 
searches,  seizures,  permits,  and  passes  had  been  introduced,  I  think, 
by  General  Fremont.  When  General  Halleek  came,  he  found  and 
continued  this  system,  and  added  an  order,  applicable  to  some 
parts  of  the  State,  to  levy  and  collect  contributions  from  noted 
rebels  to  compensate  losses,  and  relieve  destitution,  caused  by  the 
rebellion.  The  action  of  General  Fremont  and  General  Halleek, 
as  stated,  constituted  a  sort  of  a  system,  which  General  Curtis 
found  in  full  operation  when  he  took  command  of  the  department. 
That  there  was  a  necessity  for  something  of  the  sort  was  clear; 
but  that  it  could  only  be  justified  by  stern  necessity,  and  that  it 
was  liable  to  great  abuse  in  administration  was  equally  clear. 
Agents  to  execute  it,  contrary  to  the  great  Prayer,  were  led  into 
temptation.  Some  might,  while  others  would  not,  resist  that 
temptation.  It  was  not  possible  to  hold  any  to  a  very  strict  ac- 
countability; and  those  yielding  to  the  temptation  would  sell  per- 
mits and  passes  to  those  who  would  pay  most,  and  most  readily 
for  them;  and  would  seize  property,  and  collect  levies  in  the  aptest 
way  to  fill  their  own  pockets.  Money  being  the  object,  the  man 
having  money,  whether  loyal  or  disloyal,  would  be  a  victim.  This 
practice  doubtless  existed  to  some  extent,  and  it  was  a  real  additional 
evil  that  it  could  be,  and  was  plausibly,  charged  to  exist  in  a  greater 
extent  than  it  did. 

When  General  Curtis  took  command  of  the  department,  Mr. 
Dick,  against  whom  I  never  knew  anything  to  allege,  had  general 
charge  of  this  system.  A  controversy  in  regard  to  it  rapidly  grew 
into  almost  unmanageable  proportions.  One  side  ignored  the 
necessity  and  magnified  the  evils  of  the  system,  while  the  other 


104  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

ignored  the  evils  and  magnified  the  necessity;  and  each  bitterly 
assailed  the  motives  of  the  other. 

I  could  not  fail  to  see  that  the  controversy  enlarged  in  the  same 
proportion  as  the  professed  Union  men  there  distinctly  took  sides 
in  two  opposing  political  parties.  I  exhausted  my  wits,  and  very 
nearly  my  patience  also,  in  efforts  to  convince  both  that  the  evils 
they  charged  on  each  other  were  inherent  in  the  case,  and  could 
not  be  cured  by  giving  either  party  a  victory  over  the  other. 

Plainly  the  irritating  system  was  not  to  be  perpetual,  and  it 
was  plausibly  urged  that  it  could  be  modified  at  once  with  advantage. 
The  case  could  scarcely  be  worse,  and  whether  it  could  be  made 
better  could  only  be  determined  by  trial.  In  this  view,  and  not 
to  ban  or  brand  General  Curtis,  or  to  give  a  victory  to  any  party, 
I  made  the  change  of  commander  for  the  department.  I  now  learn 
that  soon  after  this  change  Mr.  Dick  was  removed  and  that  Mr. 
Broadhead,  a  gentleman  of  no  less  good  character,  was  put  in  the 
place.  The  mere  fact  of  this  change  is  more  distinctly  complained 
of  than  is  any  conduct  of  the  new  officer,  or  other  consequences 
of  the  change. 

I  gave  the  new  commander  no  instructions  as  to  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  system  mentioned,  beyond  what  is  contained  in  the 
private  letter,  afterwards  surreptiously  published,  in  which  I  directed 
him  to  act  solely  for  the  public  good,  and  independently  of  both 
parties.  Neither  anything  you  have  presented  me,  nor  anything 
I  have  otherwise  learned,  has  convinced  me  that  he  has  been  un- 
faithful to  this  charge. 

Imbecility  is  urged  as  one  cause  for  removing  General  Schofield, 
and  the  late  massacre  at  Lawrence,  Kansas,  is  passed  as  evidence 
of  that  imbecility.  To  my  mind,  that  fact  scarcely  tends  to  prove 
the  proposition.  That  massacre  is  only  an  example  of  what  Grier- 
son,  John  Morgan,  and  many  others  might  have  repeatedly  done 
on  their  respective  raids  had  they  chose  to  incur  the  personal  hazard, 
and  possessed  the  fiendish  heart  to  do  it. 

The  charge  is  made  that  General  Schofield,  on  purpose  to  pro- 
tect the  Lawrence  murderers,  would  not  allow  them  to  be  pursued 
into  Missouri.  While  no  punishment  could  be  too  sudden,  or  too 
severe  for  those  murderers,  I  am  well  satisfied  that  the  preventing 
of  the  threatened  remedial  raid  into  Missouri  was  the  only  safe  way 
to  avoid  an  indiscriminate  massacre  there,  including  probably  more 
innocent  than  guilty.  Instead  of  condemning,  I,  therefore,  approve 
what  I  understand  General  Schofield  did  in  that  respect. 

The  charges  that  General  Schofield  has  purposely  withheld 
protection  from  loyal  people,  and  purposely  facilitated  the  objects 
of  the  disloyal  are  altogether  beyond  my  power  of  belief.  I  do 
not  arraign  the  veracity  of  gentlemen  as  to  the  facts  complained  of; 
but  I  do  more  than  question  the  judgment  which  would  infer  that 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI. 


105 


those  facts  occurred  in  accordance  with  the  purpose  of  General 
Schofield. 

With  my  present  views,  I  must  decline  to  remove  General 
Schofield.  In  this  I  decide  nothing  against  General  Butler.  I 
sincerely  wish  it  were  convenient  to  assign  him  to  a  suitable  com- 
mand. 

In  order  to  meet  some  existing  evils,  I  have  addressed  a  letter 
of  instruction  to  General  Schofield,  a  copy  of  which  I  enclose  to 
you.  As  to  the  Enrolled  Militia,  I  shall  endeavor  to  ascertain 
better  than  I  now  know,  what  is  its  exact  value.  Let  me  say  now, 
however,  that  your  proposal  to  substitute  national  force  for  the 
Enrolled  Militia  implies  that  in  your  judgment  the  latter  is  doing 
something  which  needs  to  be  done;  and,  if  so,  the  proposition  to 
throw  that  force  away,  and  to  supply  its  place  by  bringing  other 
forces  from  the  field  where  they  are  urgently  needed,  seems  to  me 
very  extraordinary.  Whence  shall  they  come?  Shall  they  be  drawn 
from  Banks,  or  Grant,  or  Steele,  or  Rosecrans? 

Few  things  have  been  so  grateful  to  my  anxious  feeling,  as  when, 
in  June  last,  the  local  force  in  Missouri  aided  General  Schofield  to 
so  promptly  send  a  large  general  force  to  the  relief  of  General  Grant, 
then  investing  Vicksburg,  and  menaced  from  without  by  General 
Johnston.  Was  this  all  wrong?  Should  the  Enrolled  Militia  then 
have  been  broken  up,  and  General  Heron  kept  from  Grant,  to  police 
Missouri?  So  far  from  finding  cause  to  object,  I  confess  to  a  sym- 
pathy for  whatever  relieves  our  general  force  in  Missouri,  and  allows 
it  to  serve  elsewhere. 

I,  therefore,  as  at  present  advised,  cannot  attempt  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Enrolled  Militia  of  Missouri.  I  may  add,  that  the  force 
being  under  the  national  military  control,  it  is  also  within  the  proc- 
lamation with  regard  to  the  habeas  corpus. 

I  concur  in  the  propriety  of  your  request  in  regard  to  elections, 
and  have,  as  you  see,  directed  General  Schofield  accordingly.  I  do 
not  feel  justified  to  enter  the  broad  field  you  present  in  regard  to 
the  political  differences  between  Radicals  and  Conservatives. 
From  time  to  time  I  have  done  and  said  what  appeared  to  me 
proper  to  do  and  say.  The  public  knows  it  well.  It  obliges  nobody 
to  follow  me,  and  I  trust  it  obliges  me  to  follow  nobody. 

The  Radicals  and  Conservatives  each  agree  with  me  in  some 
things  and  disagree  in  others.  I  could  wish  both  to  agree  with  me 
in  all  things;  for  then  they  would  agree  with  each  other,  and  would 
be  too  strong  for  any  foe  from  any  quarter.  They,  however,  choose 
to  do  otherwise,  and  I  do  not  question  their  rights.  I  hold  whoever 
commands  in  Missouri,  or  elsewhere,  responsible  to  me,  and  not  to 
either  Radicals  or  Conservatives.     It  is  my  duty  to  hear  all;  but. 


106  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

at  last,  I  must,  within  my  sphere,  judge  what  to  do  and  what  to  for- 
bear. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.    Lincoln. 

Mr.  Lincoln  enclosed  in  this  long  letter  to  the  committee 
a  copy  of  the  instructions  to  General  Schofield  as  the  result 
of  the  address  of  the  Missourians. 

(Copy.) 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  D.  C,  Oct.  1,  1863. 
General  John  M.  Schofield: 

There  is  no  organized  military  force  in  avowed  opposition  to 
the  general  government  now  in  Missouri;  and  if  any  such  shall 
reappear,  your  duty  in  regard  to  it  will  be  too  plain  to  require  any 
special  instruction.  Still,  the  condition  of  things,  both  there  and 
elsewhere,  is  such  as  to  render  it  indispensable  to  maintain,  for  a 
time,  the  United  States  military  establishment  in  that  State,  as  well 
as  to  rely  upon  it  for  a  fair  contribution  of  support  to  that  es- 
tablishment generally.  Your  immediate  duty  in  regard  to  Missouri 
now  is  to  advance  the  efficiency  of  that  establishment,  and  to  so 
use  it,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  compel  the  excited  people  there  to 
leave  one  another  alone. 

Under  your  recent  order,  which  I  have  approved,  you  will 
only  arrest  individuals,  and  suppress  assemblies  or  newspapers, 
when  they  may  be  working  palpable  injury  (Mr.  Lincoln  underscored 
the  word  palpable)  to  the  military  in  your  charge;  and  in  no  other 
ease  will  you  interfere  with  the  expression  of  opinion  in  any  form,  or 
allow  it  to  be  interfered  with  violently  by  others.  In  this  you  have 
a  discretion  to  exercise  with  great  caution,  calmness  and  forbearance. 

With  the  matters  of  removing  the  inhabitants  of  certain  coun- 
ties en  masse,  and  of  removing  certain  individuals  from  time  to 
time,  who  are  supposed  to  be  mischievous,  I  am  not  now  interfering, 
but  am  leaving  to  your  discretion. 

Nor  am  I  interfering  with  what  may  still  seem  to  you  to  be 
necessary  restrictions  upon  trade  and  intercourse.  I  think  proper, 
however,  to  enjoin  upon  you  the  following:  Allow  no  part  of  the 
military  under  your  command  to  be  engaged  in  either  returning 
fugitive  slaA^es,  or  in  forcing  or  enticing  slaves  from  their  homes; 
and  so  far  as  practicable,  enforce  the  same  forbearance  upon  the 
people. 

Report  to  me  your  opinion  upon  the  availability  for  good  of 
the  Enrolled  Militia  of  the  State.  Allow  no  one  to  enlist  colored 
troops,  except  upon  orders  from  you,  or  from  here  through  you. 
Allow  no   one   to   assume   the  functions   of  confiscating   property, 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI,  107 

under  the  law  of  Congress,  or  otherwise,  except  upon  orders  from 
here. 

At  elections,  see  that  those,  and  only  those,  are  allowed  to  vote, 
who  are  entitled  to  do  so  by  the  laws  of  Missouri,  including  as  of 
those  laws  the  restrictions  laid  by  the  Missouri  Convention  upon 
those  who  may  have  participated  in  the  rebellion. 

So  far  as  practicable,  you  will,  by  means  of  your  military  force, 
expel  guerrillas,  marauders  and  murderers,  and  all  who  are  known 
to  harbor  or  abet  them.  But  in  like  manner  you  will  repress  as- 
sumptions of  unauthorized  individuals  to  perform  the  same  service, 
because  under  pretence  of  doing  this  they  become  marauders  and 
murderers  themselves. 

To  now  restore  peace,  let  the  military  obey  orders;  and  those 
not  of  the  military  leave  each  other  alone,  thus  not  breaking  the 
peace  themselves. 

In  giving  the  above  directions,  it  is  not  intended  to  restrain 
you  in  other  expedient  and  necessary  matters  not  falling  within 
their  range. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

A.    Lincoln. 

Lincoln's  second  nomination  and  his 
reconstruction  policy. 

At  this  time  Frank  Blair  was  fighting  Missouri  Con- 
federates in  the  field  and  Missouri  "Jacobins,"  as  he  called 
them,  in  Congress.  In  the  House  Mr.  Blair,  on  the  24th 
of  February,  1864,  arraigned  Salmon  P.  Chase,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  demanding  an  investigation.  He  charged 
Mr.  Chase  with  intriguing  to  defeat  Mr.  Lincoln  for  a  second 
term.  He  charged  that  the  Radicals  of  Missouri,  the  Jaco- 
bins, were  in  the  plot  to  prevent  Mr.  Lincoln's  renomination. 
He  defended  the  President's  border  States  policy: 

"Things  have  occurred  in  Missouri  and  the  other  border  States 
not  so  easily  understood  by  those  who  come  from  happier  regions, 
unvisited  by  the  calamities  of  war.  In  Missouri,  at  the  outbreak 
of  the  war,  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  the  State  was  a  prey  to 
the  worst  disorders,  the  country  was  ravaged  and  destroyed,  and  a 
feeling  of  bitterness  has  been  engendered  which  is  almost  without 
parallel.  Upon  this  spirit  of  exasperation,  retaliation  and  revenge 
the  Radicals  of  my  State  have  undertaken  to  build  up  a  party.  Is 
this  a  fit  foundation  for  any  party  to  rest  upon?  Can  peace,  pros- 
perity and  tranquility  be  expected  from  those  who  act  upon  such 
motives?     Can   any   secure  or  enduring   principles   of  government 


108  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

be  based  upon  such  sentiments?  It  may  be  and  it  is  impossible 
for  men  to  free  themselves  from  the  passion  of  revenge,  and  the  desire 
for  retaliation  on  those  who  may  have  inflicted  injuries  on  them  or 
on  their  friends  and  neighbors.  It  may  be  utterly  impossible  to 
expect  that  men  can  free  themselves  entirely  from  such  influences. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  is  it  natural,  proper,  or  wise  that  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  great  statesmen  who  are  directing  the  affairs  of  the 
government,  and  whose  duty  it  is  to  educe  peace  and  good  will  out 
of  these  scenes  of  anarchy  and  disorder,  should  be  actuated  by  the 
feelings  of  bitterness  which  have  grown  up  among  the  parties  to 
this  strife.  Such  passions  are  in  some  degree  excusable  in  those 
who  have  suffered  injury ;  but  with  what  face  does  a  man  set  himself  up 
as  a  statesman  or  party  leader,  who  will  fan  such  passions;  who 
will  contribute  to  the  public  exasperation;  who  wiU  rekindle  these 
smouldering  fires;  and  who  seeks  even  to  drag  into  them  and  destroy 
the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  country,  when  he  declines  to  be  the 
instrument  of  such  malignant  passions.  Yet  this  is  the  position 
of  the  Jacobin  leaders  of  Missouri  and  their  confederate  Jacobins 
In  Maryland.  They  appeal  to  the  Union  men  of  other  States  to 
support  them  in  their  strife  in  States  in  which  the  rebellion  has  been 
put  down,  instead  of  fighting  to  put  down  the  rebellion  where  it 
still  exists.  They  appeal  to  the  Union  men  of  other  States  against 
the  President's  policy  of  amnesty,  by  which  the  armies  of  the  rebels 
are  being  demoralized  and  depleted,  because  they  desire  to  glut 
their  vengeance  and  their  lust  for  spoils.  They  seek  to  make  a 
direct  issue  with  the  President,  to  defeat  his  re-election,  in  order 
that  they  may  enjoy  the  license  of  another  French  Revolution 
under  some  chief  as  malignant  as  themselves." 

As  early  as  1864  there  was  talk  of  the  reconstruction 
measures  when  the  war  was  over.  Some  were  advocating 
that  the  freedmen  be  given  the  ballot  and  be  armed  in  large 
numbers  that  the  franchise  might  be  secured  to  them.  Mr. 
Blair  referred  to  these  propositions.  "Can  any  American 
citizen  find  in  his  heart  to  inaugurate  such  a  contest?"  Mr. 
Blair  asked.  And  then  he  outlined  the  position  of  the  Presi- 
dent: 

"I  prefer  Mr.  Lincoln's  humane,  wise,  and  benevolent  policy 
to  secure  the  peace  and  happiness  of  both  races;  and  until  that  can 
be  accomplished,  and  while  both  races  are  being  prepared  for  this 
great  change,  I  shall  repose  in  perfect  confidence  in  the  promise  of 
the  President  given  in  his  last  message,  in  which  he  proposes  to 
remit  the  control  of  the  freedmen  to  the  restored  States,  promising 
to  support  any  provisions  which  may    be    adopted  by  such  state 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  109 

government  in  relation  to  the  freed  people  of  such  State  which  shall 
recognize  and  declare  their  permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their 
education,  and  which  may  yet  be  consistent  as  a  temporary  arrange- 
ment with  their  present  condition  as  a  laboring,  landless  and  home- 
less class.'  " 

Mr.  Blair  was  right  in  his  forecast  of  the  purpose  of  the 
Jacobins  to  defeat  the  renomination  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Very 
shortly  after  he  made  the  speech  in  Congress,  a  call  was  issued 
for  a  national  convention  to  meet  in  Cleveland  in  May. 
Radical  Union  men  of  Missouri  were  active  in  the  movement. 
Blair's  cousin,  B.  Gratz  Brown,  was  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
call.  That  convention  was  attended  by  350  delegates  who 
did  not  believe  Mr.  Lincoln  was  aggressive  enough.  Wendell 
Phillips,  the  abolitionist,  and  Fred  Douglass,  the  negro 
orator,  made  speeches.  Three  planks  in  the  very  radical 
platform  were: 

"That  the  one-term  policy  for  the  Presidency  adopted 
by  the  people  is  strengthened  by  the  force  of  the  existing 
crisis  and  should  be  maintained  by  constitutional  amendment. 
"That  the  Constitution  should  be  so  amended  that  the 
President  and  Vice-President  shall  be  elected  by  a  direct  vote 
of  the  people. 

"That  the  confiscation  of  the  lands  of  the  rebels  and 
their  distribution  among  the  soldiers  and  actual  settlers  is 
a  measure  of  justice." 

The  convention  nominated  General  John  C.  Fremont 
for  President  and  General  John  Cochrane  for  Vice-President. 
The  candidates  withdrew  in  September. 

Missourians  did  all  they  could  to  prevent  the  renomina- 
tion of  Mr.  Lincoln.  They  not  only  sent  a  delegation  to  the 
Cleveland  convention  which  nominated  Fremont  but  they 
sent  two  delegations  to  the  Baltimore  convention  which 
renominated  Lincoln.  The  call  for  the  Baltimore  conven- 
tion omitted  the  name  Republican.  It  designated  the  as- 
semblage as  the  "Union  National  Convention."  The  two 
sets  of  delegates  from  Missouri  to  this  Baltimore  convention 
contested  for  the  seats  with  as  much  vigor  as  if  the  nomina- 
tion depended  upon  which  set  got  in.     It  was  a  foregone 


110  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

conclusion  that  Mr.  Lincoln  would  be  renominated.  He  had 
all  of  the  delegates  except  those  from  Missouri.  The  com- 
mittee on  credentials  urged  the  two  delegations  from  Mis- 
souri to  patch  up  their  differences  and  go  into  the  convention 
with  half  representation  each.  The  Missourians  wouldn't 
have  it  so.  One  delegation  was  headed  by  John  F.  Hume, 
and  had  credentials  from  a  Republican  state  convention. 
The  other  set  was  headed  by  Congressman  Thomas  L.  Price 
and  had  been  selected  at  a  meeting  held  in  St.  Louis.  The 
convention  finally  decided  that  the  Hume  delegates  made 
the  best  showing  in  credentials  and  seated  them. 

When  Missouri  was  reached  in  the  call  of  the  roll  of 
States  for  the  Presidential  nomination,  Mr.  Hume  got  up 
and  said: 

"It  is  a  matter  of  regret  that  we  now  diflfer  from  the  con- 
vention which  has  been  so  kind  to  the  Radicals  of  Missouri; 
but  we  came  here  instructed.  We  represent  those  who  are 
behind  us  at  home,  and  we  recognize  the  right  of  instruction, 
and  we  intend  to  obey  our  instruction.  But  in  doing  so  we 
declare  emphatically  that  we  are  with  the  Union  party  of 
this  nation,  and  we  intend  to  fight  the  battle  through  with 
it,  and  assist  in  carrying  its  banner  to  victory  in  the  end, 
and  we  will  support  your  nominees,  be  they  whom  they  may. 
I  will  read  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  convention  which 
sent  us  here: 

"  'That  we  extend  our  heartfelt  thanks  to  the  soldiers  of 
Missouri,  who  have  been,  and  are  now  baring  their  breasts 
to  the  storm  of  battle  for  the  preservation  of  our  free  insti- 
tutions. That  we  hail  them  as  the  practical  radicals  of  the 
nation  whose  arguments  are  invincible,  and  whose  policy  for 
putting  down  the  rebellion  is  first  in  importance  and  effect- 
iveness.' 

"Mr.  President,  in  the  spirit  of  that  resolution,  I  cast 
the  twenty-two  votes  of  Missouri  for  the  man  who  stands 
at  the  head  of  the  fighting  radicals  of  the  nation,  Ulysses  S. 
Grant." 

McClurg  and  Widdicombe  were  members  of  the  Hume 
delegation.     They   represented    the   Jefferson    City   district. 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  Ill 

Widdicombe  was  from  Boonville.  His  connection  with  the 
Republican  party  dated  back  to  1861  when  there  were  only 
nine  Radicals,  as  they  were  called,  in  Boonville,  and  the  nine 
stumbled  up  stairs  in  the  dark  and  met  by  the  light  of  a 
tallow  candle  in  a  third-story  room.  In  1887  Mr.  Widdi- 
combe gave  the  writer  this  account  of  the  part  the  Missourians 
took  in  the  Baltimore  convention: 

"We  had  caucused  and  agreed  upon  our  programme  but  not 
a  word  was  allowed  to  slip  about  it.  Lincoln's  name  was  the  only 
one  formally  presented  to  the  convention,  and  as  the  roll  was  called 
each  State  announced  its  vote  for  him  amid  much  enthusiasm.  At 
length  Missouri  was  reached.  John  F.  Hume  got  up  and  with  a 
few  words  cast  the  vote  of  Missouri  for  U.  S.  Grant.  Such  a  storm 
of  disapproval  was  never  started  in  any  convention  that  I  ever 
attended.  Delegates  and  lookers-on  howled  and  howled.  I  can 
remember  how  I  felt.  I  think  my  hair  stood  right  up  on  end. 
After  Hume  announced  the  vote  he  sat  down,  and  there  we  were, 
as  solemn  and  determined  as  men  could  look,  with  the  mob  all 
around  us  demanding  that  the  vote  should  be  changed.  I  hadn't 
any  doubt  for  a  few  moments  but  what  we  would  be  picked  up, 
every  man  of  us,  and  thrown  out  into  the  street. 

"Finally,  old  Jim  Lane,  of  Kansas,  got  the  attention  of  the 
convention,"  continued  Mr.  Widdicombe.  "I  suppose  they  quieted 
down  out  of  curiosity  to  know  what  sort  of  a  fate  he  would  propose 
for  us.  Lane  went  on  to  say  that  we  were  neighbors  of  his.  We 
had  come  to  the  convention  with  proper  credentials,  and  had  been 
admitted  as  delegates.  That  being  the  case,  we  had  a  right  to  vote 
for  whom  we  pleased,  and  it  was  not  Republicanism  to  try  to  prevent 
us.  This  coming  from  Jim  Lane  and  Kansas  had  a  good  effect. 
As  soon  as  he  sat  down  Gov.  Stone,  of  Iowa,  another  good  Repub- 
lican State,  jumped  up.  He  was  a  man  more  like  Sam  Cox  than 
anybody  I  ever  saw.  He  said  we  were  neighbors  of  his,  too,  and  he 
didn't  like  to  see  us  treated  that  way.  He  urged  the  convention 
to  show  fair  play. 

"That  partially  quieted  the  storm,"  Mr.  Widdicombe  went  on, 
"and  the  roll  call  proceeded,  but  with  some  grumbling.  The  last 
State  was  reached,  and  announced  its  vote  as  all  the  others  had 
done,  except  ours,  for  Lincoln.  Then  Mr.  Hume  got  up,  before 
any  declaration  of  the  result  could  be  made,  and  stated  that  Missouri 
wished  to  change  her  vote  from  Grant  to  Lincoln  and  to  move  that 
Mr.  Lincoln's  nomination  be  made  unanimous.  By  that  time  the 
convention  saw  what  we  were  up  to,  and  how  everybody  did  shout! 
After  the  convention  adjourned  our  delegation  came  over  to  Wash- 
ington and  marched  up  to  the  White  House  headed  by  Gen.  John 

4 


112  MISSOURI  HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

B.  Henderson,  who  was  then  in  the  Senate.  Gen.  Henderson 
presented  us  and  Mr.  Lincoln  got  off  some  funny  remarks  about 
our  course  in  the  convention.  But  after  we  went  back  home  we 
never  had  any  further  occasion  to  complain  about  the  control  of 
the  federal  patronage  in  Missouri  so  long  as  Mr.  Lincoln  lived." 

What  were  Mr.  Lincoln's  views  respecting  the  future  of 
the  freedmen?  What  was  his  plan  of  reconstruction?  Was 
Frank  Blair  as  accurate  in  his  statement  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
policy  in  those  directions  as  he  was  in  his  forecast  of  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Radicals?  In  the  collection  of  Lincoln  papers, 
possessed  by  William  K.  Bixby  of  St.  Louis,  is  the  original 
letter  of  the  President  upon  the  restoration  of  state  govern- 
ment in  Arkansas.  It  was  addressed  to  General  Steele, 
at  Little  Rock.  It  was  written  in  the  winter  of  1864,  not 
far  distant  from  the  time  Frank  Blair  outlined  the  President's 
policy  toward  the  States  which  had  seceded.  Residents  of 
Arkansas  petitioned  for  authority  to  hold  an  election  and  to 
set  up  a  state  government  which  would  be  recognized  at 
Washington.  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  his  own  hand,  wrote  to  General 
Steele,  in  charge  of  the  military  division  which  included 
Arkansas.  He  gave  explicit  instructions.  He  stipulated 
that  the  new  state  government  must  come  into  existence 
with  the  full  recognition  of  the  principle  embraced  in  what 
afterwards  became  the  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  That  there  might  be  no 
misunderstanding  Mr.  Lincoln  copied  into  his  letter  the  lan- 
guage of  the  condition  upon  which  the  new  state  government 
was  to  be  recognized.  The  letter  illustrated  the  earnest 
desire  of  Mr.  Lincoln  to  rehabilitate  state  governments  in 
the  Confederacy.  Thus,  more  than  twelve  months  before 
the  final  surrender,  the  President  laid  the  foundation  for 
restoration  of  civil  authority  in  Arkansas.  Restoration  was 
the  word,  not  reconstruction.     The  letter  concluded: 

"You  will  please  order  an  election  immediately  and  per- 
form the  other  parts  assigned  you  with  necessary  incidentals, 
all  according   to   the   foregoing." 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  113 

In  his  own  words,  written  by  himself,  the  President 
expressed  his  purpose  to  make  the  way  for  the  Confederate 
States  to  get  back  into  the  Union  simple  and  expeditious. 

The  thirteenth  amendment  submission  bill  did  not  pass 
the  Senate  until  the  8th  of  April,  1864.  It  did  not  obtain 
the  necessary  two-thirds  in  the  Hquse  until  the  next  session 
of  Congress.  It  was  ratified  by  thirty-one  States  and  pro- 
claimed in  force  in  December,  1865.  And  yet  nearly  two 
years  before,  Mr.  Lincoln  incorporated  the  language  with 
his  own  hand  as  the  principal  condition  of  the  creation  of 
a  new  state  government  for  Arkansas.  The  language  made 
no  stipulation  as  to  negro  suffrage.  It  only  required  that 
Arkansas  organize  with  a  provision  against  slavery  in  these 
words : 

"There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude, 
except  in  the  punishment  of  crime  whereof  the  party  shall 
have  been  duly  convicted,  but  the  General  Assembly  may 
make  such  provision  for  the  freed-people  as  shall  recognize 
and  declare  their  permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their 
education,  and  which  may  yet  be  consistent,  as  a  temporary 
arrangement,  with  their  present  condition  as  a  laboring, 
landless  and  homeless  class." 

This  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  policy  of  state  restoration.  The 
other  conditions  imposed  upon  the  Southern  States,  of  which 
negro  suffrage  was  chief,  came  after  the  death  of  the  President. 

Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  20,  1864. 
Major  General  Steele: 

Sundry  citizens  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  petition  me  that  an 
election  may  be  held  in  that  State;  that  it  be  assumed  at  said  elec- 
tion, and  thenceforward,  that  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  State, 
as  before  the  rebellion,  are  in  full  force,  excepting  that  the  constitu- 
tion is  so  modified  as  to  declare  that  "There  shall  be  neither  slavery 
nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  in  the  punishment  of  crime 
whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly  convicted;  but  the  General 
Assembly  may  make  such  provision  for  the  freed-people  as  shall 
recognize  and  declare  their  permanent  freedom,  provide  for  their 
education,  and  which  may  yet  be  consistent,  as  a  temporary  ar- 
rangement, with  their  present  condition  as  a  laboring,  landless,  and 
homeless  class;"  ever  also  except  that  all  now  existing  laws  in  re- 


114  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

lation  to  slaves  are  inoperative  and  void;  that  said  election  be  held 
on  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  March  next  at  all  the  usual  voting 
places  of  the  State,  or  all  such  as  voters  may  attend  for  that  purpose; 
that  the  voters  attending  at  each  place,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  of  said  day,  may  choose  judges  and  clerks  of  election  for 
that  place;  that  all  persons  qualified  by  said  constitution  and  laws, 
and  taking  the  oath  prescribed  in  the  President's  proclamation 
of  December  the  8th,  1863,  either  before  or  at  the  election,  and 
none  others,  may  be  voters  provided  that  persons  having  the  qualifi- 
cations aforesaid,  and  being  in  the  volunteer  military  service  of  the 
United  States,  may  vote  once  wherever  they  may  be  at  voting 
places;  that  each  set  of  judges  and  clerks  may  make  return  directly 
to  you,  on  or  before  the  eleventh  day  of  April  next;  that  in  all  other 
respects  said  election  may  be  conducted  according  to  said  modified 
constitution,  and  laws;  that,  on  receipt  of  said  returns,  you  count 
said  votes,  and  that,  if  the  number  shall  reach,  or  exceed,  five 
thousand  four  hundred  and  six,  you  canvass  said  votes  and  ascer- 
tain who  shall  thereby  appear  to  have  been  elected  Governor;  and 
that  on  the  eighteenth  day  of  April  next,  the  person  so  appearing 
to  have  been  elected,  and  appearing  before  you  at  Little  Rock, 
to  have,  by  you,  administered  to  him  an  oath  to  support  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  and  said  modified  constitution  of 
the  State  of  Arkansas,  and  actually  taking  said  oath,  be  by  you 
declared  qualified,  and  be  enjoined  to  immediately  enter  upon  the 
duties  of  the  office  of  Governor  of  said  State;  and  that  you  there- 
upon declare  the  constitution  of  the  State  of  Arkansas  to  have  been 
modified  and  assumed  as  aforesaid,  by  the  action  of  the  people  as 
aforesaid. 

You  mil  please  order  an  election  immediately,  and  perform 
the  other  parts  assigned  you,  with  necessary  incidentals,  all  accord- 
ing to  the  foregoing. 

Yours  truly, 

A.    Lincoln. 

The  original  of  this  letter  is  entirely  in  the  handwriting 
of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Painstaking  is  not  the  word  that  applies 
to  Mr.  Lincoln's  writing.  The  pen  or  pencil  moved  over  the 
page  easily,  naturally,  readily.  That  is  apparent  from  the 
style  of  writing.  Even  stronger  evidence  is  found  in  the 
volume  of  written  matter  which  Mr.  Lincoln  turned  out. 
From  the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  lawyer  down  through 
the  busiest  days  in  the  White  House,  Mr.  Lincoln  wrote  and 
wrote.  There  are  in  existence  letters  and  papers  of  his  pen- 
manship in  greater  number,  probably  than  any  other  President 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  115 

wrote.  The  letters  number  thousands.  Many  of  them  bear 
evidence  that  they  were  not  answers  and  need  not  have 
been  written,  and  would  not  have  been  written  by  one  to 
whom  writing  was  irksome,  or  in  any  sense  a  task.  Mr. 
Lincoln  liked  to  write  so  well  that  he  seldom  dictated  anything. 
In  the  extensive  and  varied  collection  of  Lincoln  writings 
owned  by  Mr.  Bixby  are  many  interesting  revelations  of  this 
strong  penmanship  habit  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  Whether  in  letter, 
law  paper  or  state  document,  the  composition  was  simple 
and  closely  condensed.  But  this  did  not  mean  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  wished  to  get  through  as  quickly  as  possible.  It 
indicated  the  habit  of  mind.  There  are  few  letters  of  Mr. 
Lincoln  which  exceed  a  page.  The  longest  writing  in  the 
Bixby  collection  is  the  letter  to  General  Steele  setting  forth 
the  complete  plan  of  restoration  of  civil  government  for 
Arkansas.  It  is  of  nearly  four  pages  and  written  on  one  side 
of  the  paper.  The  date  is  significant,  taken  in  connection 
with  Blair's  speech  in  Congress.  The  President  dated  his 
letter  on  the  24th  of  January.  Blair  spoke  on  the  24th  of 
February. 

LINCOLN,    MISSOURI    AND    MEXICO. 

When  it  was  evident  that  the  Confederacy  was  doomed, 
President  Lincoln  gave  thought  to  the  future  of  the  Mis- 
sourians  who  had  gone  with  the  South.  He  realized  that 
there  were  numbers  of  these  who  had  cut  the  ties  of  home 
and  kindred.  With  the  surrender,  many  Confederates,  es- 
pecially from  Missouri  and  other  border  States,  would  feel  k* 
that  they  were  men  without  a  country.  Houses  had  been 
burned.  Farms  had  been  laid  waste.  Property  had  been 
confiscated.  Emancipation  had  wrought  chaos  in  labor  re- 
lations which  might  require  years  for  adjustment.  These 
conditions,  which  would  confront  the  soldiers  returning  to 
the  border  States,  were  dangerous.  They  might  lead  to 
feuds  without  number  and  much  bloodshed.  Mr.  Lincoln 
talked  with  his  advisers  about  this  situation.  He  consulted 
with  Frank  Blair. 


116  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 

Across  the  Rio  Grande  there  was  revolution.  European 
governments,  taking  advantage  of  the  Civil  War  in  the 
United  States,  were  attempting  to  set  up  an  empire.  The 
United  States  had  protested  through  diplomatic  channels 
against  this  violation  of  the  Monroe  doctrine.  Under  Juarez 
the  republican  elements  of  Mexico  were  fighting  against 
Maximilian,  but  they  were  with  difficulty  holding  the  north- 
ern part  of  their  country.  The  closing  act  of  Mr.  Lincoln's 
cherished  border  states  policy  was  to  turn  the  western  Con- 
federates toward  Mexico  as  soon  as  their  own  cause  was 
lost.  And,  as  on  the  former  occasions  noted,  Mr.  Lincoln 
looked  to  Missouri  to  work  out  this  policy. 

Francis  P.  Blair  and  Joseph  O.  Shelby  were  cousins. 
Early  in  1861,  when  Blair  knew  that  war  was  inevitable, 
he  sent  for  Shelby,  who  was  living  in  Lafayette  county,  to 
come  to  St.  Louis.  He  exerted  all  of  his  powers  of  persuasion 
to  induce  Shelby  to  remain  with  the  Union.  On  the  strength 
of  his  close  relations  with  Mr.  Lincoln,  Blair  assured  Shelby 
of  a  good  commission  in  the  army.  Shelby,  however,  had 
made  up  his  mind  to  go  with  the  South. 

With  the  war  nearing  the  end.  President  Lincoln  made 
Blair  the  medium  of  his  communication  to  the  western  Con- 
federates and  Blair  communicated  the  plan  to  Shelby.  Not 
only  was  no  obstacle  to  be  thrown  in  the  way  of  Confederates 
marching  to  Mexico  but  tacit  encouragement  was  to  be 
given.  Moreover  it  was  to  be  understood  that  federal 
soldiers  who  had  not  had  enough  of  the  adventures  of  war 
might  join  the  Confederates,  cross  the  Rio  Grande,  join 
Juarez  and  help  work  out  the  salvation  of  Mexico. 

Shelby  led  an  expedition  to  Mexico  and  was  not  inter- 
fered with.  But  the  plan  as  President  Lincoln  conceived 
it  was  not  carried  through.  In  1877  there  was  much  newspa- 
per talk  about  an  invasion  of  Mexico  by  Americans.  Affairs 
in  that  country  had  become  unsettled.  Reports  were  spread 
that  Americans  were  organizing  under  strong  leadership  to 
go  into  Mexico  with  the  view  of  settling  there  and  insuring 
stability  of  government  and  lasting  peace.  General  Shelby's 
name  was  much  mentioned  as  a  possible  leader  in  the  move- 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI.  117 

ment.  He  was  living  on  his  farm  in  Missouri.  Some  ex- 
pression from  him  was  wanted  by  the  northern  and  eastern 
newspapers.  Through  the  influence  of  Major  John  N. 
Edwards,  who  had  been  on  Shelby's  staff  in  the  war,  the 
much  desired  interview  was  obtained.  General  Shelby  with 
emphasis  put  an  end  of  the  use  of  his  name  in  connection 
with  the  proposed  movement.  And  then  he  told  of  Mr. 
Lincoln's  plan  for  the  western  Confederates:     He  said: 

"Through  General  Frank  P.  Blair  I  had  received,  long  before 
the  killing  of  Lincoln,  some  important  information.  It  was  to  the 
effect  that  in  the  downfall  of  the  Confederacy  and  the  overthrow 
of  the  Confederates  of  the  east,  the  Confederates  of  the  west  would 
be  permitted  to  march  into  Mexico,  drive  out  the  French,  fraternize 
with  the  Mexicans,  look  around  them  to  see  what  they  could  see, 
occupy  and  possess  land,  keep  their  eyes  fixed  steadfastly  upon 
the  future,  and  understand  from  the  beginning  that  the  future 
would  have  to  take  care  of  itself.  In  addition,  every  disbanded 
federal  soldier  in  the  trans-Mississippi  department,  who  desired 
service  of  the  kind  I  have  indicated,  would  have  been  permitted  to 
cross  over  to  the  Confederates  with  his  arms  and  ammunition. 
Fifty  thousand  of  these  were  eager  to  enlist  in  such  an  expedition. 
On  my  march  south  from  San  Antonio  to  Piedras  Negras  I  received 
no  less  than  200  messages  and  communications  from  representative 
Federal  officers  begging  me  to  wait  for  them  beyond  the  Rio  Grande." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say,  General,  that  President  Lincoln  was  in 
favor  of  the  movement  you  have  outlined?" 

"I  do  mean  to  say  so  most  emphatically.  I  could  show  nothing 
official  for  my  assertion,  but  I  had  such  assurances  as  satisfied  me, 
and  other  officers  of  either  army  had  such  assurances  as  satisfied 
them.  There  was  empire  in  it,  and  a  final  and  practical  settlement 
of  this  whole  Mexican  question." 

"Why  did  the  scheme  fail?" 

"I  will  tell  you  why.  Before  marching  into  the  interior  of 
Mexico  from  Piedras  Negras,  a  little  town  on  the  Rio  Grande 
opposite  Eagle  Pass,  I  called  my  officers  and  men  about  me  and 
stated  to  them  briefly  the  case.  Governor  Blesea,  the  Juarez 
governor  of  Coahuila,  was  in  Piedras  Negras.  I  had  sold  him 
cannon,  muskets,  ammunition,  revolvers,  sabres, — munitions  of 
war  which  I  had  brought  out  of  Texas  in  quantities, — and  had 
divided  the  proceeds  per  capita  among  my  men,  Governor  Blesea 
offered  me  the  military  possession  of  New  Leon  and  Coahuila,  a 
major  generalship,  and  absolute  authority  to  recruit  a  corps  of 
50,000  Americans.     All  these  things  I  told  my  followers.     Then  I 


g 


M 


118  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 

laid  a  scheme  before  them  and  mapped  out  for  the  future  a  programme 
which  had  for  a  granite  basis,  as  it  were,  that  one  irrevocable  idea 
of  empire.  But  to  my  surprise  and  almost  despair  nearly  the 
entire  expeditionary  force  were  resolute  and  aggressive  imperialists. 
I  could  not  move  them  from  the  idea  of  fighting  for  Maximilian. 
They  hated  Juarez,  they  said,  and  they  hated  his  cause.  Max- 
imilian had  been  the  friend  of  the  South;  so  had  the  French;  so  had 
Louis  Napoleon.  They  would  not  lift  a  hand  against  the  inperial 
government.  I  did  not  argue  with  my  soldiers.  They  had  been 
faithful  to  me  beyond  everything  I  had  ever  known  of  devotion, 
and  so  I  said  to  them,  'You  have  made  your  resolve,  so  be  it!'  " 

There  is  strongly  corroborative  proof  of  General  Shelby's 
statement  that  the  western  Confederates  were  to  be  allowed 
to  march  away  to  Mexico.  When  Lee  surrendered,  the 
trans-Mississippi  army  numbered  about  50,000  men.  The 
commander  was  Kirby  Smith.  The  ofificers  held  a  council 
at  Marshall,  Texas,  and  decided  to  march  to  Mexico.  Kirby 
Smith  was  to  resign  and  Buckner  was  to  command.  But 
Smith  declined  to  resign  and  Buckner  didn't  want  to  go. 
Division  after  division  was  called  to  Shreveport  and  dis- 
armed. Shelby  called  for  volunteers  and  led  1,000  men  to 
Mexico.  At  the  close  of  the  Civil  war,  Sheridan  was  hurried 
to  the  Mexican  border.  Juarez  was  given  moral  and  material 
support  from  the  United  States  side.  The  French  were 
warned  away;  Maximilian  was  defeated,  captured,  condemned 
to  death  and  executed  on  the  hill  of  Queretaro. 

THE  FAREWELL  MESSAGE  TO  MISSOURI. 

Not  two  months  before  his  death,  fifty-one  days  before 
the  surrender  of  Lee,  President  Lincoln  sent  to  Missouri  what 
was  to  be  his  farewell  message.  The  letter  was  dated  the 
latter  part  of  February,  1865.  The  Missouri  Constitutional 
convention  had  abolished  slavery.  The  delegates  were  pre- 
paring that  ill-advised,  proscriptive,  short-lived  organic  act, 
with  its  test  oaths  which  were  to  create  turmoil  for  a  genera- 
tion in  the  State,  which  passed  into  history  as  the  Drake  con- 
stitution. Mr.  Lincoln  wrote,  entreating  Governor  Fletcher 
to  get  together  the  contending  factions  and  to  harmonize  the 
people  irrespective  of  what  they  had  "thought,  said,  or  done 


LINCOLN  AND  MISSOURI. 


119 


about  the  war  or  about  anything  else."  He  even  suggested 
a  plan  of  detail  by  which  he  believed  this  might  be  accom- 
plished. The  Hon.  Benjamin  B.  Cahoon,  Sr.,  of  Frederick- 
town,  lifelong  student  of  Lincoln  who  stopped  and  sympa- 
thized with  him  as  he  lay  wounded  after  Gettysburg,  has  said 
of  this  farewell  message  to  Missouri: 

"In  no  document  of  Lincoln's  is  his  kindness  and  hu- 
manity better  exhibited.  It  can  be  classed  with  his  first  and 
second  Inaugural  addresses  and  his  Gettysburg  oration." 

A  fitting  conclusion  to  this  narrative  of  Lincoln  and  Mis- 
souri is  this  letter  of  the  President  to  Governor  Fletcher: 


Executive  Mansion, 
Washington,  February  20,  1865. 
His  Excellency,  Governor  Fletcher: 

It  seems  that  there  is  now  no  organized  military  force  of  the 
enemy  in  Missouri,  and  yet  that  destruction  of  property  and  life  is 
rampant  everywhere.  Is  not  the  cure  for  this  within  easy  reach  of 
the  people  themselves?  It  cannot  be  but  that  every  man,  not  naturally 
a  robber  or  cutthroat,  would  gladly  put  an  end  to  this  state  of  things. 
A  large  majority  in  every  locality  must  feel  alike  upon  this  subject; 
and  if  so  they  only  need  to  reach  an  understanding  one  with  an- 
other. Each  leaving  all  others  alone  solves  the  problem;  and  surely 
each  would  do  this  but  for  his  apprehension  that  others  will  not 
leave  him  alone.  Cannot  this  mischievous  distrust  be  removed? 
Let  neighborhood  meetings  be  everywhere  called  and  held  of  all 
entertaining  a  sincere  purpose  for  mutual  security  in  the  future, 
whatever  they  may  heretofore  have  thought,  said,  or  done  about 
the  war  or  about  anything  else.  Let  all  such  meet,  and,  waiving 
all  else,  pledge  each  to  cease  harassing  others,  and  to  make  common 
cause  against  whoever  persists  in  making,  aiding,  or  encouraging 
further  disturbance.  The  practical  means  they  will  best  know  how 
to  adopt  and  apply.  At  such  meetings  old  friendships  will  cross  the 
memory,  and  honor  and  Christian  charity  will  come  in  to  help. 
Please  consider  whether  it  may  not  be  well  to  suggest  this  to  the 
now  afflicted  people  of  Missouri. 

Yours  Truly, 

A.  Lincoln. 


P. 


120  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 


HISTORICAL  ARTICLES  IN  MISSOURI  NEWSPAPERS. 

September,  October,   November,   1915. 

Adair  County.     Kirksville  Democrat  (Daily) 

Sept.  15.     Reminiscences  of  50  years  ago  in  Kirksville. 

Sept.  23.     Some  incidents  in  the  life  of  Quantrill,  famous  guerrilla  chieftain  . 

Andrew  County.     Savannah,  Democrat 

Sept.  17.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Julius  A.  Sanders,  pioneer,  county  oflacSal 
and  Civil  War  veteran. 

Atchison  County.     Rock  Port,  Atchison  County  Journal 

Sept.  2.  Birth  of  the  Journal — A  series  of  excellent  historical  artlf  es 
on  Atchison  county,  by  John  D.  Dopf,  founder  of  *^he 
Journal.     See  also  later  issues. 

Atchison  County  Mail 

Oct.  1.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  J.  F.  Hurn,  Atchison  county  pioneer  and 
Missouri  Civil  War  veteran. 

Audrain  County.     Mexico,  Intelligencer  (Weekly) 

Sept.    9.     Fox  Hunters  Tell  of  Old  Favorites'  Former  Prowess. 

Sketch  of  history  of  Santa  Fe,  Missouri. 
Oct.    14.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  A.  G.  Turner,  Audrain  county  pioneer  and 
Confederate  veteran. 

Ledger  (Weekly) 

Nov.  25.  List  of  Mexico's  Ex-Confederates  who  have  died  in  that  city 
since  the  Civil  War. 

Bates  County.     Butler,  Bates  County  Record 

Nov.  13.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Hon.  Thomas  L.  Harper,  Missouri  pioneer 
and  legislator. 

Benton  County.     Warsaw,   Times 

Sept.  16.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Creede  Ingram,  Missouri  Civil  War  veteran. 

Boone  County.     Centralia,  Fireside  Guard 

Sept.  13.  An  episode  of  the  war,  by  Mrs.  Jennie  Gibbins.  See  also  later 
issues  containing  reminiscences  of  different  early  residents. 
Oct.  1.  Reminiscences.  Account  of  a  trip  from  Kentucky  to  Missovu-i 
in  pioneer  days.  A  series  of  excellent  historical  articles 
on  pioneer  Missouri  and  Boone  county,  by  Mrs.  (Dr.) 
A.  F.  Sneed,  deceased.     See  prior  and  later  issues. 

Columbia,  Times 

Oct.      5.     Resume  of  Missouri  history — Missouri  Day  Address  by  E.  W. 

Stephens. 
Oct.    17.     Recollections  of  early  days  in  Missouri,  by  Col.  R.  B.  Price,   Sr. 
Tribune 


Sept.  25.     Pioneer  days  along  the  Booneslick  Road. 

Oct.    13.     History  of  the  Stephens  Publishing  Company. 

Oct.    28.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Col.  John  C.  Moore,  of  Excelsior  Springs, 

Civil  War  veteran  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Kansas 

City  Times. 

University  Missourian 


Sept.    8.     History  of  Boone  County  newspapers. 

Sept.  26.     The  University  of  Missouri  45  years  ago — diagram  and  his- 
torical sketch. 


HISTORICAL  ARTICLES  IN  MISSOURI  NEWSPAPERS. 


121 


Sept.  26. 


Oct. 

14. 

Oct. 

22. 

Nov. 

8. 

Nov. 

22. 

Nov. 

29. 

Sketch  of  the  life  of  J.  W.  Stone,  Civil  War  veteran  and  Mis- 
sissippi River  pilot. 

Reminiscences  of  the  seventies  at  the  University  of  Missouri. 

How  the  rich  cement  beds  at  Hannibal  were  discovered  in  1853. 

Recollections  of  Columbia  in  the  60's,  by  Prof.  French  Strother. 

Some  Missouri  Folk-Lore. 

Some  Columbia  postoflQce  history.  First  U.  S.  postmistress  in 
Columbia.   1838. 

Buchanan  County.     St.  Joseph,  Gazette 

Sept.  4.  Historical  sketch  of  Huffman  Memorial  Church  and  its  founder, 
Rev.  Samuel  Huffman. 

Oct.  24.  Historical  sketch  of  Nave-McCard  Mercantile  company 
founded  in  1841.  Some  incidents  in  early  day  merchan- 
dising with  pictures  of  founders  and  first  stone  building 
in  Savannah. 

Oct.  31.  Historical  sketch  of  Tootle-Campbell  Dry  Goods  Company. 
Early  days  in  Buchanan  county,  by  Alice  Mary  Kimball. 

Nov.  28.     Historical  sketch  of  St.  Joseph  Railway,  Light,  Heat  and  Power 
Company,  with  picture  of  old  horse  car  of  former  days. 
News  Press 

Sept.  16  and  17.  Proceedings  of  Missouri  Press  Association  with  pictures 
and  sketches  of  leading  editors. 

Oct.  29.  Recollections  of  Civil  War  times  in  Missouri,  by  Capt.  F.  M. 
Posegate. 

Nov.  30.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Louis  Fuelling,  St.  Joseph  pioneer  merchant 
of  the  Pikes  Peak  immigration  days. 

Callaway  County.     Mokane,  Missourian 

Aug.  20.  Historical  sketch  of  Little  Bonne  Femme  Baptist  Association, 
by  Dr.  W.  H.  Burnham 

Camden  County.     Linn  Creek,  Reveille 

Oct.  1.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  O.  A.  Nelson,  county  oflBce  holder  and 
member  of  the  General  Assembly. 

Carroll  County.     Carrollton,  Republican-Record 

Sept.  23.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  John  I.  Wilcoxson,  pioneer  and  Missouri 

confederate  veteran. 
Oct.    21.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Hon.   Russell  M.   Kneisley,  lawyer  and 

legislator. 

Carter  County.     Van  Buren,  Current  Local 

Sept.    9.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Judge  John  C.  Brown. 
Nov.  25.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Francis  Marion  Willett,  Missouri  pioneer 
and  Civil  War  veteran. 


Cass  County. 
Oct.      8. 

Oct.    22. 

Cedar  County. 
Nov.  18. 


Pleasant  Hill,  Times 

The   Early    Days. — ^Reminiscences   of  the   Long   Ago   at   Old 

Lone  Jack. 
List  and  age  of  old  settlers  in  Cass  county. 

Stockton,  Journal 
Sketch  of  the  life  of  Alfred  Rickman,  Civil  War  veteran. 

Chariton  County.     Salisbury,  Press-Spectator 

Sept.    3.     Memoirs.     Diary  of  Dr.  J.  H.  P.  Baker  on  Price's  Raid  in  1864. 
See  also  former  and  later  issues. 

Clark  County.     Kahoka,  Clark  County  Courier 

Sept.  17.     Early  Clark  County  Sunday-school  history,  by  I.  Gilhousen. 
Oct.    22.     Excellent  address  on  pioneer  Clark  county,  delivered  at  Old 
Settlers  Meeting,  Oct.  6.  1915,  by  J.  W.  Murphy. 


i 


122  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 


Gazette-Herald 


Oct.    29.     Some  Fifty  Years  Ago,  by  James  A.  Jenkins. 

Clay  County.     Excelsior  Springs,  Standard 

Sept.  27.     An  Old  Railroad. — Article  on  the  Missouri  Pacific. 

Nov.     1.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Thomas  Duncan,   Missouri  pioneer  and 

Civil  War  veteran. 
Nov.  15.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Thomas  L.  Hope,  one  of  the  foimders  of 

Excelsior  Springs,  Mo. 
Nov.  25.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Joseph  A.   Smith,   Missoxiri  pioneer  and 
veteran  of  the  Mexican  War  under  Col.  Doniphan. 

Liberty,  Advance 

Sept.    3.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  O'Fallon  Dougherty,  Missouri  pioneer. 
Tribune 


Sept.    3.     Politics  in  the  Old  Days  in  Missouri,  by  Robt.  J.  Clark. 

Dade  County.     Greenfield,  Vedelte 

Oct.    21.     When  Guerrillas  Sacked  the  Town  of  MelviUe,  by  Col.  J.  W. 
Carmack. 
Greene  County.    Springfield,  Leader 

Oct.    24.     The  Biu-ning  of  Melville. — A  Civil  War  incident. 
Nov.  24.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  John  L.  Holland,  pioneer  merchant  of 
Springfield. 

Republican   (Daily) 

Sept.  29.     St.  Louis  as  it  appeared  in  1829. 

Oct.      3.     History  and  roster  of  sixth  Missouri  cavalry. 

Oct.    26.     Some  incidents  in  the  life  of  Cole  Younger,  as  related  by  an 

old  friend  "Dad"  Holliday. 
Nov.  11.     Some  historic  spots  in  Greene  County. 

Grundy  County.     Trenton,  Republican 

Oct.  28.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Capt.  Wm.  Brantner,  Missouri  Civil  War 
veteran. 

Harrison  County.     Bethany,  Clipper 

Oct.    21.     Historical  sketch  of  first  Presbyterian  Church  in  Bethany. 

Holt  County.     Oregon,  Holt  County  Sentinel 

Sept.  17.     The    Steamboat    Graveyard.     Historical    article    on    Missoiu-I 

River. 
Sept.  24.     Historical  sketch  of  William  R.  RusseU,  first  white  child  born 

in  Holt  county. 
Nov.  26.     History  of  the  Oregon  Postofflce. 

Howard  Coimty.     Glasgow,  Missourian 

Nov.  4.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Russel  Bigelow  Copies,  noted  ^Missouri 
pioneer,  prominent  lawyer  and  citizen,  and  Confederate 
veteran. 

Knox  Coimty.     Edina,  Sentinel 

Sept.    2.     Historical  sketch  of  the  Sentinel. 

Jackson  County.     Kansas  City,  Journal 

Nov.  16.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  J.  S.  Botsford,  Kansas  City  lawyer  and 
U.  S.  District  Attorney  for  Western  Missouri  under 
President  Grant. 

Nov.  28.  Portrait  of  Milton  J.  Payne,  early  Kansas  City  mayor,  pre- 
sented to  Missouri  Valley  Historical  Society.  Some  early 
day  history. 

Nov.  28.  Story  of  the  Loring  expedition  from  St.  Louis  to  Oregon  and 
the  military  occupation  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  1849. 
By  Albert  R.  Greene. 


HISTORICAL  ARTICLES  IN  MISSOURI  NEWSPAPERS. 


123 


Star 


Sept.  19.     Marriage  record  of  Daniel  Boone,  oldest  son  of  famous  pioneer. 
Sept.  21.     Historical  sketch  of  Emery,  Bird,  Thayer  Company,  organized 

in  1853. — Picture  of  early  business  house. 
Sept.  24.     When  the  first  railroad  train  pulled  out  of  Kansas  City,  Sept. 

25,   1865. 
Oct.      6.     An  Independence  Landmark.     Picture  and  historical  sketch  of 

Presbyterian  church  built  1852. 
Oct.    10.     Historical  account  of  the  railroad  bond  case  which  has  been 

hanging  over  Henry  county  nearly  half  a  century. 
Oct.    24.     Recollections  of  the  James  boys  by  Jim  Cummins. 
Oct.    24.     The  Blue  man  of  Spring  Creek.     Some  Ozark  traditions. 
Oct.    31.     Old  mill  on  Indian  Creek  near  Kansas  City  built  in  1830. 
Oct.    31.     Missouri  in  1805.     From  account  written  by  Anthony  Soulard, 

U.  S.  Surveyor. 
Nov.     7.     The  man  who  bluffed  Frank  James. — A  Civil  War  incident. 
Nov.  16.     D.  A.  R.  Memorial  for  Thomas  H.  Benton  with  a  picture  of  the 

tablet  erected  in  Kansas  City. 

Sun 


Sept.  18.     Beginning  of  a  series  of  articles  on  the  history  of  negro  Masonry 
in  Missouri,  by  Joseph  E.  Herriford,  P.  M. 

Times 


Sept.  27.     When  Kansas  City  celebrated  the  coming  of  the  first  steam 

locomotive. 
Nov.    9.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  W.  J.  Smith,  builder  of  first  cable  street 

car  line  in  Kansas  City. 
Nov.    9.     Historical  sketch  of  the  old  "Chick  Mansion"  an  early  day 

landmark  of  Kansas  City. 

Jasper  County.     Joplin,  News-Herald 

Sketch  of  the  life  of  Charles  Schifferdecker,  Joplin  millionaire 
philanthropist. 

Laclede  County.     Lebanon,  Rustic 

Nov.  18.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  James  M.  Dotson,  Missouri  pioneer  and 
Civil  War  veteran. 

Lafayette  County.     Higginsville,  Advance 

Oct.    22.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Capt.  A.   E.  Asbury,   Missouri  pioneer 
and  Confederate  veteran. 
Odessa,  Democrat 


Nov.  19. 
Lewis  Covmty. 


Sketch  of  the  life  of  Edward  Evers,  Missouri  Civil  War  veteran. 

Canton,  N'ews 
Sketch  of  the  life  of  Stephen  J.   Poole,   Missouri  Civil  War 

veteran. 

Linn  County.     Brookfleld,  Gazette 

Sept.    4.     In  the  Early  Sixties. — A  series  of  historical  articles  on  Linn 
county.     See  later  issues. 

Oct.      2.     The  Later  Thirties. — Same. 

Oct.    16.     Fifties  and  Sixties. — Sketch  of  Laclede,  Missouri. 

Oct.    23.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Capt.  John  Lomax. 
Linneus,  Bulletin 


Nov.  18.     Early  Days  in  the  Covmty  of  Linn,  by  Judge  John  A.  Nickell. 
(From  Marceline  Journal-Mirror.) 

Livingston  County.     Chillicothe,   Tribune  (Daily) 

Sept.      2.     Reminiscences  of  opining  of  Missouri  River  bridge  at  Kansas 

City,   1869. 
Sept.    4.     Pioneer  days  along  Grand  River  by  Rev.  C.  O.  Ransford. 


124  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 


Macon  County.     Macon,  Times-Democrat 

Oct      7.     Monuments  for  Warriors. — Sketch  of  the  lives  of  Henry  Lynch 

and   James    Howell,    Revolutionary   soldiers   and    Macon 

county  pioneers. 
Oct.    28.     Excellent  five  part  historical,  industrial  and  illustrated  souvenir 

number  on  Macon  county. 

Marion  County.     Hannibal,   Courier-Post 

Oct.    28.     Account  of  dedicatory  ceremonies  upon  erection  of  monument 

to  former  Congressman  WiUiam  H.  Hatch. 
Oct.    28.     Historical  sketch  of  St.  John    Episcopal    Church  in  Monroe 

City,  established  1855. 
Nov.    9.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Dr.  J.  N.  Coons  of  Palmyra,  oldest  phy- 
sician in  Marion  county  and  descendant  of  Daniel  Boone. 

Palmyra,  Spectator 

Sept.  22.     The  First  Pony  Express. — Account  of  the  Pony  Express  riders. 

Monroe  County.     Monroe  City,  News  (semi-weekly) 

Oct.      1.     The  celebrated  Centralia  Fight,  by  W.  C.  Todd. 
Paris,  Monroe  County  Appeal 


Sept.  12.     Last  of  the  James  Gang,  interview  with  Cummins  by  A.  B. 
MacD. 

Nodaway  County.     Hopkins,  Journal 

Sept.  16.     The  Building  of  an  Empire,  historical  sketch  of  early  Nodaway, 
Gentry  and  Worth  counties,  by  James  M.  Pierce. 
Maryville,  Democrat-Forum 

Oct.      7.     Sketch  of  the  late  Sante  Fe  Trail,  by  Mrs.  Charles  Bell. 

Osage  County.  Linn,  Republican 

Nov.  11.     Old    Days    Recalled,    reminiscences   of   Osage   county    by    E. 
Hopkins.     See  also  later  issues. 

Pettis  County.     Sedalia,  Capital 

Nov.    6.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  John  D.  Stark,  former  state  senator  from 
Cooper  county. 

Pulaski  County.     Richland,  Mirror 

Oct.    29.     History  of  the   Richland   Methodist   Church,   by  Ed.   Lings- 
weiler. 

Ralls  County.     New  London,  Ralls  County  Record 

Oct.      1.     The  Double  Log  Cabin,  a  story  of  pioneer  days  in  Missouri 
by  Joe  Burnett. 

Perry,  Enterprise 

Nov.  11.     List  of  persons  seventy  years  old  and  over  with  biographical 
sketches,  by  W.  R.  Poage. 

Ray  County.     Richmond,  Conservator 

Sept.    2.     Trip  across  the  plains  in  1859,  by  Robt.  J.  Clark. 

Sept.    9.     Men  who  were  early  pioneers  of  Ray  county,  by  Cora  Ellis 

Steele. 
Nov.  18.     First  Jury  in  Ray  County  Circuit  Court  empaneled  in  1821. 
Nov.  25.     Sketches  of  Ray  county  history,  by  speakers  at  opening  of 

new  Court  House. 


Missourian 


Nov.  25.     Sketches  of  Ray  county  history,  by  speakers  at  opening  of  the 
new  Court  House. 

News 


Nov.  22.     Early  Day  Circuit  Judges,  by  Judge  G.  W.  Dum. 


HISTORICAL  ARTICLES  IN  MISSOURI  NEWSPAPERS.  125 

St.  Charles  County.     St.  Charles,  Banner-News 

Oct.      7.     Reprint  of  a  diary  of  a  trip  from  Virginia  to  Missouri  in  1829, 

by  Wm.  M.  Campbell.     Rare  and  valuable. 
Nov.    4.     Descriptive  sketch  of  the  unveiling   ceremonies  at  grave  of 
Daniel  Boone. 

Cosmos-Monitor 

Sept.  15.  Reprint  of  marriage  record  of  Daniel  Morgan  Boone,  eldest 
son  of  Daniel  Boone. 

St.  Clair  County.     Appleton  City,  Journal 

Sept.  30.  History  of  the  first  Presbyterian  Church  of  Appleton  City,  by 
Rev.  J.  G.  West. 

Lowry  City,  Independent 

Sept.    2.     Autobiographical  sketch   of  the  life  of  Rev.    R.    D.    Lawler, 

prominent  pioneer. 
Sept.  16.     Pioneer  methods  of  wheat  threshing,  by  Hez  Bowman. 

St.  Francois  County.     Farmington,  Times 

Sept.  24.  Historical  and  descriptive  edition  of  St.  Francois  county. 
Valuable. 

St.  Louis  City.     Globe-Democrat 

Oct.  1.  Kirkwood  Centennial  Celebration. — Some  reminiscences  of 
early  days. 

Oct.  11,  12.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  D.  M.  Houser,  president  of  Globe- 
Democrat. 

Nov.  23.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Michael  McEnnis,  Mexican  war  veteran 
and  first  graduate  of  St.  Louis  University. 


Republic 


Sept.  5.  Early  days  in  Randolph  County. — Related  by  old  settlers  at 
Huntsville  Old  Settlers  Reunion,  by  Love  and  Chapin. 

Sept.  22.  Sketch  of  Father  David  S.  Phelan,  editor  of  Western  Watch- 
man and  pioneer  in  religious  joiu-nallsm. 

Oct.  31.  Who  is  Patience  Worth?  Developments  in  the  famous  psy- 
chological mystery  in  St.  Louis,  by  Love  and  Chapin. 

Nov.  7.  Experience  of  AUie  Stuart,  St.  Louis  woman  who  became 
volunteer  Civil  War  nurse  and  attended  Gen.  Lyon  after 
the  Battle  of  Wilson's  Creek. 

Nov.  21.  Webb  City  mining  district.  Some  history  of  zinc  mining  in 
Missouri.     By  Love  and  Chapin. 

Times. 


Nov.  2.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  E.  L.  Preetorius,  founder  of  St.  Louis 
Times. 

St.  Louis  County.     Clayton,   Watchman-Advocate 

Oct.  1.  Sketch  of  the  early  German  settlers  in  the  Gravois  and  Des 
Peres  settlements,  by  Rev.  S.  Kruse.  See  also  later 
issues  on  chiu-ch  history  in  Missouri. 

Kirkwood  Courier 

Nov.  27.  Sketch  of  the  life  of  Michael  McEnnis,  Missouri  pioneer  and 
Mexican  War  veteran. 

Saline  County.     Marshall,  Democrat-News  (Weekly) 

Oct.    21.     Sketch  of  "Pleasant  Grove,"  historic  estate  west  of  Marshall. 
Nov.    4.     Sketch  of  the  "Washington-Lewis  Place,"  historic  house  near 
Marshall. 

Saline  County  Progress  (Weekly) 

Sept.  3.  Historical  sketches  of  Saline  county,  by  Dr.  Chastain.  See 
prior  and  later  issues. 


126  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

Sullivan  County.     Milan,  Republican 

Sept.  16.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  Rev.  J.   S.  Todd,   Missouri  Civil  War 
veteran. 

Taney  County.     Forsyth,  Taney  County  Republican 

Sept.  30.     A  story  of  the  Civil  War  in  Taney  county,  by  W.  D.  Titts- 
worth. 
Branson,   White  River  Leader 

Oct.      1.     Stories  of  the  Pioneers.     See  prior  and  later  issues. 

Warren  County.     Warrenton,  Banner 

Sept.    3.     Article  on  Daniel  Boone's  grave,  by  George  C  Bryan. 
Nov.    5.     The  Boone   Monument,   article  on   the  unveiling  ceremonies 
and  speeches. 

Wayne  County.     Greenville,  Sun 

Nov.    8.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  H.  Y.  Mabrey,  Missouri  Civil  War  veteran. 

Wright  County.     Hartville,  Democrat 

Nov.  25.     Sketch  of  the  life  of  James  J.  Prophet,  Missouri  Confederate 
veteran. 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


127 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 

The  History  of  St.  Louis  County,  Missouri,  (2  vols.)  by 
William  L.  Thomas,  of  Maplewood,  Mo.,  has  recently  been 
donated  to  the  Society  by  the  author.  Although  published 
in  1911  the  Review  has  not  had  opportunity  before  to  make 
note  of  this  work.  Subject  to  correction,  we  believe  this  is 
the  first  history  published  devoted  mainly  to  the  present 
county  of  St.  Louis.  A  number  of  valuable  works  on  St. 
Louis  city  have  appeared  such  as  Billon,  Scharf  and  Stevens, 
which,  while  necessarily  treating  of  the  country  of  St.  Louis, 
naturally  placed  emphasis  on  the  story  of  the  Fourth  City. 
The  present  county  of  St.  Louis  is  one  of  the  five  oldest 
counties  in  the  State.  In  1877  the  city  of  St.  Louis,  by 
virtue  of  provisions  in  the  present  Missouri  constitution  of 
1875,  assumed  a  new  political  status  and  became  independent 
in  all  its  governmental  affairs  from  the  county  of  St.  Louis. 
Thus  the  history  of  St.  Louis  county  down  to  1877  includes 
the  history  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis. 

Owing,  however,  to  the  commanding  importance  of  the 
city,  it  has  been  the  custom  of  most  historians  to  honor  the 
city  and  slight  the  county.  We  are  glad  that  Mr.  Thomas 
has  tried  to  change  this  habit  and,  waiving  the  question  of 
merit  in  this  new  publication,  this  new  purpose  of  the  author 
is  commendable.  In  this  connection  we  cannot  but  observe 
that  there  exists  a  strong  tendency  among  modern  writers 
to  feature  the  big  things  of  the  present  and  to  pass  over  in 
silence  the  guiding  factors  of  the  past.  The  history  of  St. 
Louis  city  is  preserved  in  a  score  of  books,  that  of  the  present 
county  in  one;  Kansas  City  is  the  theme  of  many  writers, 
the  history  of  Independence — as  important  if  not  more 
interesting  historically — is  only  casually  mentioned;  Macon 
City  thrives  on  its  present  and  past  achievements,  Blooming- 
ton — once  its  stronger  rival — is  only  a  memory;  St.  Joseph 
is  known  in  books  through  all  the  Missouri  Valley,  Weston — 
the  formerly  thriving  river  port  and  hemp  market — is  hardly 

5 


128  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 

known  to  the  majority  of  Missourians;  Moberly  is  the  present 
metropolis  and  center  of  interest  in  Randolph  county,  Clark 
maintains  its  former  importance  in  scanty  newspaper  ar- 
ticles. 

Many  of  the  towns  of  yesterday  made  the  history  of 
the  counties  of  today.  The  county  that  ignores  this  fact, 
the  historian  who  passes  it  by  with  little  thought,  and  the 
people  who  permit  such  neglect,  do  well  to  reflect  on  the 
injustice  and  unfairness  countenanced.  The  foundation  of 
history  is  so  obviously  and  so  frequently  built  on  the  first 
few,  on  the  primitive  customs,  on  the  small  towns  of  yesterday, 
that  it  seems  almost  needless  to  urge  the  importance  of  these 
things.  Not  only  does  true  history  demand  consideration 
of  these  small  beginnings  but  we  need  this  knowledge  for  our 
own  vision.  No  man  knows  Missouri's  present  who  is 
ignorant  of  her  past;  no  man  can  pass  correct  judgment  on 
her  statesmen  of  the  twentieth  century  who  knows  nothing 
of  her  leaders  during  the  last  hundred  years;  and  no  man  can 
fairly  appraise  her  towns  and  counties  of  today  who  has  not 
read  the  story  of  her  towns  and  counties  of  yesterday.  We 
are,  therefore,  especially  inclined  to  commend  this  work  on 
the  history  of  St.  Louis  county  by  Mr.  Thomas.  Volume 
one  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  county,  including  a  number 
of  interesting  articles;  the  second  volume  is  given  over  to 
biographical  sketches  of  persons  living  in  the  county.  The 
volumes  are  nicely  bound  in  three  quarters  morocco  and  the 
press  work  is  of  a  good  quality. 

City  of  Osage.  During  the  second  quarter  of  the  last 
century  many  towns  were  laid  out,  lots  sold  and  glowing 
predictions  made  for  the  future.  The  State  Historical 
Society  of  Missouri  has  a  pamphlet  about  one  of  these  pub- 
lished by  James  Lusk,  the  State  printer  at  Jefferson  City. 
The  pamphlet,  by  Josiah  Murfel,  contains  a  statement  of 
an  interesting  fact  about  the  many  promised  cities  of  that 
period,  and  yet  so  few  of  the  lithographs  mentioned  have  been 
preserved:     "Not    a    bar-room    in    the    most    unpretending 


NOTES  AND  DOCUMENTS. 


129 


hotel,  throughout  the  entire  north  and  west,  but  could  a 
short  time  since  have  exhibited  its  score  of  more  of  splendid 
lithographed  cities — beautiful  (on  paper)  to  look  upon,  but 
if  you  had  taken  a  personal  survey,  you  would  have  found 
the  majestic  oak  and  ash,  the  sycamore  and  maple,  in  all 
their  native  wildness,  adorning  the  street,  squares  and  avenues, 
and  the  denizens  of  nature  their  only  inhabitants." 

Of  Osage  City  the  prediction  was  made  that  it  would 
not  result  as  so  many  others  did,  but  was  destined,  "as  we 
believe,  at  no  very  distant  day,  to  constitute  another  Pitts- 
burg," "and  Osage  may  bid  defiance  to  the  sneers  and  at- 
tempted witticisms,  which,  at  its  expense,  have  heretofore 
served  to  enliven  certain  dull  Gazeteers,  and  the  washy 
columns  of  certain  duller  newspapers."  The  firms  of 
Raccoon,  Opossum  &  Co.,  had  been  expelled  and  the  author 
did  not  know  whether  they  had  gone  to  Oregon  or  Texas. 
The  city  was  where  the  Osage  river  debouched  into  the 
Missouri  ten  miles  below  the  State  capital,  in  the  midst  of 
"a  fertile  and  densely  populated  country,  immediately  on 
the  new  state  road  leading  from  the  city  of  Jefferson  to  St. 
Louis,  via  Hermann,  and  which  will  soon  become  the  prin- 
cipal medium  of  travel,  as  well  for  the  mail  stages  as  for 
private  conveyance,  between  these  two  points."  The  loca- 
tion "seems  to  have  been  marked  out  by  the  hand  of  nature 
as  the  destined  seat  of  a  great  commercial  city."  In  the 
year  1817  a  city  was  laid  out  at  this  point,  and  lots  to  a  large 
amount  sold,  but  it  was  then  found  that  the  parties  selling 
the  lots  had  no  title  to  the  land. 

The  competition  of  other  points  on  the  river  was  dis- 
posed of  readily:  "the  contiguity  of  this  point  to  Jefferson 
City — the  capitol  of  the  State  (it  being  but  ten  miles  distant) 
may  induce  the  impression  that  Osage  must  yield  to  the  latter 
place.  This  will  most  assuredly  not  be  the  case.  Not  only 
is  Jefferson  above  the  mouth  of  the  Osage,  but  its  commercial 
importance,  even  at  this  time,  without  any  rival  ship  on  the 
part  of  the  Osage,  is  scarcely  that  of  an  ordinary  western 
village.  Boonville,  at  present  a  flourishing  commercial  town, 
60  miles  above,  on  the  Missouri,   might  present  no  mean 


130  MISSOURI  HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

rival,  were  it  probable  that  the  trade  of  the  Osage  would 
travel  60  miles  up  stream  and  in  a  direct  Vine  from  the  seaboard. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  may  be  safely  predicted,  that 
as  soon  as  capital  and  the  facilities  which  it  will  afford  in 
the  purchase  of  the  produce  of  this  country,  and  in  sup- 
plying the  necessary  articles  of  merchandise  required  by  the 
people,  shall  have  become  permanently  located  at  this  point; 
it  will  divert  hither  a  large  and  valuable  trade,  now  enjoyed 
by  Boonville,  and  at  present  carried  on  for  the  most  part 
over  land,  at  an  average  distance  of  100  miles."  "The  great 
mass  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  valley,  being  what  is  usually 
styled  "small  farmers,"  whose  crops  will  range  from  two  to 
five  hogsheads  of  tobacco,  or  from  two  to  five  tons  of  hemp, 
they  will  not  be  backward  to  discover  that  between  this 
place  and  St.  Louis  there  is  a  difference  in  the  time  of  travel 
of  at  least  six  days,  with  a  proportionate  expense;  hence  so 
long  as  they  can  find  a  ready  market  for  their  produce,  and 
can  obtain  their  supplies  on  fair  and  reasonable  terms  at 
this  point,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  it  will  be  the  place  of 
their  trade. 

"So  far  as  rivalship  may  be  anticipated  from  the  Osage, 
it  may  be  remarked  that  it  is  a  fact  perfectly  known  to  every 
person  acquainted  with  the  Osage  river,  that  between  Warsaw, 
175  miles  above  the  mouth  of  this  river,  and  this  point  is 
no  point  at  which  can  arise  anything  like  a  commercial  city. 
There  may  be,  as  doubtless  there  will  be,  numerous  manufac- 
turing villages  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  country, 
and  for  which  Osage  will  be  the  general  place  of  deposit  and 
trade." 

The  pamphlet  of  eighteen  pages  has  many  facts  in  regard 
to  the  fruitfulness  of  the  Osage  valley,  and  to  its  mineral 
resources.  A  collection  of  the  lithographed  maps  mentioned 
would  make  an  interesting  exhibit,  and  the  statements  made 
in  the  pamphlet  publication  indicate  various  facts  that  have 
been  forgotten  in  the  changed  conditions  of  the  later  years. 

F.  A.  Sampson. 


^2*. 


BOOKS  RECEIVED  FROM  MISSOURI  AUTHORS. 


131 


BOOKS  RECEIVED  FROM  MISSOURI  AUTHORS. 

History  of  SL  Louis  County,  Missouri,  by  William  L. 
Thomas.     2  vols.     St.  Louis;  the  S.  J.  Clarke  Pub.  Co.,  1911. 

Memorial  Diamond  Jubilee;  German  Evangelical  Synod  of 
North  America.  By  Ewald  Kockritz.  St.  Louis;  Eden 
PubHshing  House.     [1915] 

Injuries  to  Interstate  Employees  On  Railroads.  By 
Maurice  G.  Roberts.  Chicago;  Callaghan  and  Company. 
1915. 

Memorial  Sketches  of  Pioneers  and  Early  Residents  of 
Southeast  Missouri.  By  Louis  Houck.  Cape  Girardeau; 
Naeter   Bros.     1915. 

Seventy-five  Years  On  The  Border.  By  James  Williams. 
Kansas  City;  Standard  Printing  Company.     1912. 

The  Awakening  of  the  Desert.  By  Julius  C.  Birge. 
Boston;  The  Gorham  Press,     n.  d. 

The  Social  Problem.  By  Charles  A.  EUwood.  New- 
York;  The  Macmillan  Company.     1915. 

Blind  Boone.  By  Melissa  Fuell.  Kansas  City;  Burton 
Publishing   Co.     1915. 

Poems.  By  Frances  E.  Moore.  Kansas  City,  Mo.; 
Smith-Grieves  Company.     1915. 

The  Law  of  War  Between  Beligerents.  By  Percy  Bord- 
well.     Callaghan  &  Co.     1908. 

The  Making  of  An  American's  Library.  By  Arthur  E. 
Bostwick.     Boston;  Little,   Brown  and  Company.     1915. 


132  MISSOURI    HISTORICAL    REVIEW. 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS. 

The  article  by  Mr.  Walter  B.  Stevens  in  this  number  of 
the  Review  was  read  by  the  author  at  the  Annual  Dinner  of 
the  Society  on  December  10,  1915.  The  value  and  interest 
attached  to  Mr.  Steven's  Lincoln  and  Missouri  make  it  one 
of  the  most  important  papers  that  have  been  published  on 
Missouri  history.  The  author  is  so  well  known  to  Missourians 
that  he  needs  no  introduction  to  the  history  reading  public 
of  the  State.  He  has  achieved  success  as  an  editor  and 
author.  His  works  on  Missouri  history  are  many,  and  in 
the  field  of  St.  Louis  history  he  stands  today  as  that  city's 
foremost  historian. 

Lincoln  and  Missouri  is  one  of  the  best  balanced,  most 
valuable  and  interesting  monographs  that  has  come  from 
the  pen  of  this  writer.  The  work  involved  in  its  preparation 
would  alone  commend  it,  while  its  arrangement  of  material 
and  manner  of  presentation  puts  it  in  that  class  of  fascinating 
historical  writings  that  were  so  perfected  by  that  brilliant 
Missourian,  John  N.  Edwards.  Mr.  Stevens  has  consulted 
not  only  the  standard  and  official  publications,  but  has 
gathered  his  material  from  many  invaluable  Lincoln  and 
related  manuscripts  in  the  W.  K.  Bixby  and  the  Illinois 
Historical  Society  collections,  from  miscellaneous  letters  pre- 
served by  individuals,  from  the  files  of  old  Missouri  news- 
papers, and  from  the  lips  of  those  who  lived  and  made  history 
in  Missouri  during  the  great  struggle  in  the  sixties.  With 
such  a  wealth  of  source  material  collected  with  much  industry 
and  skill  and  in  some  cases,  diplomacy,  Mr.  Stevens  wove 
into  one  piece  the  story  of  Lincoln  and  Missouri.  Most  of 
the  facts  related  were  known  as  isolated  events  although 
much  new  material  was  set  forth,  but  few  if  any  had  a  clear 
vision  of  the  whole  narrative,  and  none  had  attempted  to 
tell  the  tale  before.  To  Mr.  Stevens  are  we  indebted  for 
presenting  in  such  complete  and  fascinating  manner  the  entire 
story. 


THE  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  MISSOURI. 


133 


THE  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  MISSOURI. 

The  Thirteenth  Annual  Meeting  of  the  State  Historical 
Society  of  Missouri  and  the  meeting  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Society  were  held  in  the  Society's  rooms  in  the 
new  Library  Building  on  December  10,  1915.  A  number  of 
prominent  men  from  over  the  State  were  present  and  a  pleasant 
and  interesting  afternoon  was  spent.  The  important  business 
transacted  was  the  reading  of  the  report  of  the  Society's 
Treasurer  and  of  the  Secretary,  the  election  of  twelve  Trus- 
tees, and  the  adoption  of  a  Centennial  Resolution.  The 
Secretary  reported  that  the  present  membership  of  the  So- 
ciety totaled  1,045,  divided  into  two  honorary,  four  ex- 
officio,  twelve  corresponding,  six  hundred  and  seven  annual 
editorial  members,  and  three  hundred  and  ninety  annual 
pay  members.  During  the  eleven  months  ending  December 
1,  1915,  the  Society  added  4,000  titles  to  its  Library;  of  which 
2,192  were  classified  as  books,  and  1,808  as  pamphlets. 
The  total  number  of  titles  in  the  Library  is  now  44,000; 
classified  as  28,737  books,  and  15,263  pamphlets.  The 
total  present  stock  of  the  library  is  now  about  44,000  separate 
titles,  and  over  116,000  duplicates. 

The  following  Trustees  were  elected  for  a  term  of  three 
years  ending  1918:  Wm.  C.  Breckenridge,  St.  Louis;  W.  R. 
Painter,  Carrollton;  George  A.  Mahan,  Hannibal;  H.  S. 
Sturgis,  Neosho;  H.  C.  McDougal,  Kansas  City;  Jonas  Viles, 
Columbia;  R.  M.  White,  Mexico;  Walter  Williams,  Columbia; 
E.  M.  Violette,  Kirksville.  Rollin  J.  Britton,  of  Kansas 
City,  was  elected  a  Trustee  to  1916  to  fill  the  unexpired 
term  of  the  late  W.  R.  Nelson,  who  died  April  13,  1915. 
Boyd  Dudley,  of  Gallatin,  was  elected  a  Trustee  to  1917  to 
fill  the  unexpired  term  of  Alexander  M.  Dockery,  who  re- 
signed November  30,  1914.  J.  E.  MacKesson,  of  Lebanon, 
was  elected  a  Trustee  to  1917  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of 
the  late  Hon.  John    E.    Organ,  who  died  August  10,  1915. 


134  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

H.  S.  Sturgis,  of  Neosho,  was  elected  Third  Vice  President 
of  the  Society  to  fill  the  unexpired  term  of  W.  R.  Nelson  of 
Kansas  City. 

Boyd  Dudley,  of  Gallatin,  was  the  author  of  Centennial 
Resolution,  which  was  unanimously  adopted.  It  reads  as 
follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  President  of  the  State  His- 
torical Society  of  Missouri  appoint  a  committee  of 
five  persons  which  committee  shall  appoint  a  larger 
committee,  representative  of  the  vocations,  indis- 
tries  and  institutions  of  the  people  of  the  State, 
under  whose  direction  arrangements  shall  be  made 
for  the  celebration  of  the  Centennial  of  the  State 
of  Missouri.  It  is  further  resolved  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  first  committee  be  members  of  the 
larger  committee,  and  that  the  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Missouri  be  requested  to  serve  as  the 
Honorary  Chairman  of  the  latter  committee. 

Remarks  were  made  by  Walter  B.  Stevens,  of  St.  Louis, 
E.  W.  Stephens,  of  Columbia,  and  Jewell  Mayes,  of  Rich- 
mond. The  Centennial  Resolution  was  the  chief  topic  of 
discussion  and  all  heartily  approved  its  purpose.  That 
Missouri  should  celebrate  the  Centennial  of  the  State  and 
that  plans  should  be  made  at  once  to  ensure  the  success 
due  to  Missouri's  history  and  present  greatness  are  truths 
obvious  to  all.  The  Society  is  to  be  commended  in  not 
having  waited  longer  to  take  the  responsibility  for  this  great 
work.  Indiana  is  planning  to  celebrate  her  Centennial 
next  year,  and  Illinois  has  been  planning  hers  in  1918  for 
several  years.  It  is  well  that  Missourians  will  have  adequate 
time  to  perfect  arrangements  for  appropriately  commem- 
orating her  Centennial. 

After  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Society  the  members 
and  their  friends  were  conducted  through  the  New  Library 
Building.  As  the  Society's  quarters  in  its  new  home  were 
described  in  the  last  issue  of  the  Review,  we  refer  to  that 


V 


V 
V 


». 


w 


V 


V 


::: 


The  New  Library    Building — Property    of    the    University    of    Missouri. 
Home  of  The  State  Historical  Society  of  Missouri. 

The  building  was  erected  for  the  joint  use  of  The  State 
Historical  Society  of  Missouri  and  the  University  of  Missouri 
Library.  The  Historical  Society  has  its  offices  and  reading 
room  on  the  first  floor  to  the  left  of  the  front  entrance.  Four 
basement  rooms  and  a  double  story  stackroom  contain  the 
Society's  160,000  books,  pamphlets  and  Missouri  newspapers. 
The  building  faces  north.  The  main  part  alone  has  been 
completed.  When  the  two  wings  are  added,  the  cost  of  the 
Iniilding,  exclusive  of  stacks,  shelving,  furniture  and  the  site, 
will  be  five  hundred  thousand  dollars. 


73712 — 135. 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS.  135 

publication.     A  cut  of  the  New  Library   Building  appears 
on  the  page  opposite. 

At  6  P.  M.,  the  Annual  Dinner  of  the  Society  was  given, 
there  being  nearly  fifty  present.  The  speaking  lasted  until 
eleven  o'clock  and  an  enjoyable  and  sociable  evening  was 
spent.  The  speakers  on  the  program  were:  R.  M.  White, 
of  Mexico,  Mo.,  President  of  the  State  Historical  Society  of 
Missouri;  Rev.  W.  W.  Elwang,  of  Columbia,  Mo.,  Invocation; 
Boyd  Dudley,  of  Gallatin,  Mo.,  Toastmaster;  Walter  B. 
Stevens,  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  Address  on  Lincoln  and  Missouri; 
Wm.  Southem,  Jr.,  of  Independence,  Mo.,  Past  President  of 
the  State  Historical  Society  of  Missouri,  who  spoke  on  Inde- 
pendence and  Jackson  County;  John  T.  Sturgis,  of  Springfield, 
Mo.,  Presiding  Judge  of  the  Springfield  Court  of  Appeals, 
who  made  a  plea  for  a  limitation  of  the  United  States  to 
its  present  boundaries;  and  Rollin  J.  Britton,  of  Kansas 
City,  Author,  who  spoke  on  The  Great  Men  of  Gallatin,  Mis- 
souri. Brief  remarks  were  also  made  by  Lieutenant  Governor 
W.  R.  Painter,  of  Carrollton,  and  Dean  Walter  Williams,  of 
Columbia,  and  a  telegram  in  verse  from  Purd  B.  Wright, 
of  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  who  was  prevented  from  coming  to 
the  dinner,  was  read  by  Mr.  Dudley. 

PERSONAL. 

Capt.  a.  E.  Asbury,  Missouri  pioneer  and  Confederate 
veteran,  died  at  his  home  in  Higginsville,  Mo.,  on  October 
19,  1915.  Capt.  Asbury  was  born  in  Prunytown,  Va.,  (now 
West  Virginia)  August  16,  1836.  He  attended  Virginia  and 
Alleghany  College,  Meadville,  Pa.,  and  in  1857  followed  his 
father  to  Missouri.  He  read  law  under  Hon.  C.  T.  Garner 
and  Maj.  M.  Oliver  and  in  1859  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Houston,  Texas  county,  Missouri.  In  May,  1861,  Capt. 
Asbury  was  a  delegate  to  the  secession  convention  at  Jefiferson 
City  and  was  active  in  the  Confederate  ranks  from  1861  to  '•' 

June  20,  1865.     The  war  record  of  Capt.  Asbury  was  pre-  _.   /* 

served  in  a  remarkably  valuable  and  interesting  book  entitled 
"My  Experiences  in  the  War  1861  to  1865,  or  a  Little  Auto- 
biography,"   by    A.    Edgar   Asbury.     (Published    in    1894). 


136  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

A  copy  of  this  rare  and  realistic  book  is  in  the  library  of  the 
State  Historical  Society  of  Missouri.  Capt.  Asbury  was  a 
leading  citizen  of  Lafayette  county,  Mo.,  being  a  banker, 
capitalist,  mine  owner  and  for  years  a  director  in  the  Kansas 
City  and  Chicago,  now  the  C.  &  A.,  railroad. 

Judge  John  C.  Brown,  editor,  lawyer,  and  jurist,  died 
in  St.  Louis,  on  September  4,  1915.  Judge  Brown  was  born 
in  Carter  county,  Missouri,  March  22nd,  1860.  His  early 
life  was  spent  upon  the  farm.  When  about  seventeen  years 
of  age,  he  came  to  Van  Buren,  Mo.,  and  edited  the  Times, 
now  the  Current  Local  of  that  town.  He  later  engaged  in 
the  real  estate  business  and  was  also  justice  of  the  peace, 
deputy  circuit  clerk,  and  recorder  of  deeds.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  October,  1888,  and  was  elected  prosecuting 
attorney  of  Carter  county  the  following  month.  In  1890 
he  located  at  Willow  Springs,  Mo.,  and  engaged  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  Having  filled  several  public  offices,  he  was 
appointed  on  the  Revision  Commission  for  the  State  in  1909. 
At  the  November  election  in  1910,  he  was  elected  a  Judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri  for  ten  years. 

The  high  regard  in  which  Judge  Brown  was  held  through- 
out the  State  reveals  his  character.  He  was  a  son  of  the 
Ozark  hills;  his  early  education  was  limited  to  the  common 
schools;  his  industry  alone  enabled  him  to  succeed.  As  one 
of  his  friends  said:  "He  was  the  same  John  Brown  at  the 
plow;  at  the  printer's  case;  at  the  bar;  and  on  the  bench. 
His  life  should  be  a  splendid  example  to  any  young  man,  as 
it  shows  what  one  can  accomplish  if  he  has  only  the  energy 
and  the  perseverance  to  lead  forward." 

Hon.  Francis  Marion  Cockrell,  lawyer,  soldier  and 
United  States  Senator  from  Missouri,  died  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  on  December  13,  1915.  Born  in  Johnson  county, 
Missouri,  on  October  1,  1834,  he  was  reared  on  a  farm,  and 
received  part  of  his  education  at  Chapel  Hill  College,  in 
Lafayette  county,  Missouri,  where  he  graduated  in  1853. 
He  studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1855,  and  began 


HISTORICAL  NEWS   AND   COMMENTS.  137 

the  practice  of  his  profession  at  Warrensburg.  At  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War  he  espoused  the  Southern  cause,  was 
soon  elected  a  captain,  and  rose  through  the  ranks  of  lieu- 
tenant colonel  and  colonel  to  brigadier  general.  He  saw 
service  in  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Mississippi,  Tennessee,  Geor- 
gia, and  Alabama.  In  March,  1866,  full  amnesty  was  granted 
to  General  Cockrell  and  he  returned  to  Warrensburg  and 
took  up  his  practice.  His  associate  was  the  late  former 
Gov.  T.  T.  Crittenden,  but  his  ambition  soon  led  him  into 
politics.  In  1872  he  became  a  candidate  for  governor  and 
was  defeated  in  the  Democratic  State  convention  by  Silas 
S.  Woodson  by  one-sixth  of  a  vote.  He  made  such  an  earnest 
campaign  for  his  successful  rival  that,  in  1874,  he  was  chosen 
United  States  Senator  to  succeed  Carl  Schurz.  He  served 
the  State  and  Nation  as  United  States  Senator  for  thirty 
years,  from  1875  to  1905.  In  the  latter  year  a  Republican 
Legislature,  after  a  factional  deadlock,  elected  William 
Warner  to  succeed  him.  President  Roosevelt's  comment  on 
this  change  was  that  the  people  of  Missouri  had  lost  a  faith- 
ful servant,  but  that  the  government  would  not  lose  him, 
and  he  appointed  Cockrell  a  member  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission.  He  served  on  this  commission  until 
1910,  and  later  served  as  a  commissioner  to  re-establish  the 
boundary  between  Texas  and  New  Mexico,  and  as  a  civilian 
member  of  the  Board  of  Ordnance  and  Fortifications. 

The  fame  of  Senator  Francis  Marion  Cockrell  and  his 
place  in  Missouri  history  rests  on  his  record  as  a  soldier  and 
a  statesman.  Although  his  military  record  does  not  equal 
that  of  either  Alexander  W.  Doniphan  or  General  Sterling 
Price,  nor  his  civil  record  compare  either  in  brilliance  of 
oratory  to  that  of  Missouri's  "Little  Senator,"  George 
Graham  Vest,  or  in  views  of  statesmanship  to  those  of  Thomas 
H.  Benton,  Francis  Marion  Cockrell  was  one  of  the  most 
admired  men  Missouri  has  sent  to  the  Halls  of  Congress, 
was  one  of  the  most  respected  men  by  both  Democrats  and 
Republicans,  and  was  one  of  the  most  beloved  statesmen  in 
Washington,  D.  C.  His  public  record  was  clean;  his  acts  as 
a  soldier  and  senator  were  untarnished  by  a  single  base  motive 


138  MISSOURI  HISTORICAL  REVIEW. 

or  cowardly  deed.  Bravery,  discipline  and  efficiency  made 
"Cockrell's  Brigade"  of  Missourians  known  throughout  the 
Southland.  Unselfishness,  integrity,  and  industry  endeared 
Cockrell  to  Missourians  on  the  field  and  forum.  When 
defeated  for  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Governor  by 
only  one-sixth  of  a  vote,  it  is  said  that  while  the  cheering 
for  his  successful  opponent  was  at  its  height  Cockrell  sent 
his  wide,  broadbrimmed  hat  flying  to  the  top  of  the  con- 
vention hall.  "What  are  you  throwing  up  your  hat  for?" 
one  of  his  supporters  asked.  "No  man  can  support  the 
nominee  of  the  Democrat  party  more  heartily  than  I," 
replied  Cockrell. 

It  was  such  words  as  these,  indicative  of  the  man's 
heart  and  mind,  that  made  Francis  Marion  Cockrell  beloved 
by  thousands  of  political  friends  and  foes,  and  idolized  by 
Missourians.  The  word  of  Cockrell  was  doubted  by  none. 
Although  on  the  minority  side  in  the  Senate  the  reports  from 
his  committee  were  generally  accepted  and  favorably  acted 
upon  by  his  opponents.  The  greatest  confidence  was  re- 
posed in  his  integrity  and  industry.  The  St.  Louis  Globe- 
Democrat,  Dec.  14,  1915,  in  an  editorial  said  in  part:  "Clean- 
handed and  clean-hearted  he  had,  for  nearly  a  generation 

in  the  Senate,  held  himself  free  from  all  attaint. He 

never  failed  to  use  every  bit  of  strength  he  had  to  do  a  proper 
service  for  any  constituent,  regardless  of  politics.  Often  he 
arose  from  a  sick  bed  to  help  out  a  constituent,  merely  be- 
cause he  came  from  Missouri.  Gentle,  simple  and  hospitable 
he  was  beloved  by  all.  His  Republican  colleagues  would 
do  him  any  personal  favor  he  asked.  Even  his  eccentri- 
cities became  adorable  and  Missourians  yet  unborn  will  be 
told  stories  about  Senator  Cockrell  and  his  cobpipe  and  linen 
duster."  The  St.  Louis  Republic  of  December  14,  1915,  in 
an  editorial  also  said  in  part:  "One  striking  fact  which 
runs  through  all  this  record  is  the  confidence  which  his 
personality  inspired  in  other  men.  He  became  a  Captain 
without  military  experience.  He  became  a  United  States 
Senator  without  having  held  any  civil  office.  An  uncom- 
promising  Democrat,  he  held  positions  of  trust  and  honor 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS.  139 

under  two  Republican  administrations. When  Champ 

Clark  nominated  him  for  the  presidency  in  the  convention 
held  in  St.  Louis  in  1904,  William  Jennings  Bryan  seconded 
the  nomination  and  declared  before  the  convention  that  he 
would  be  willing  to  give  Senator  Cockrell  the  nomination 
and  let  him  write  his  own  platform.  The  confidence  which 
was  reposed  in  him  in  so  many  and  such  varied  relations 
was  never  violated.  He  died  as  he  had  lived,  a  fearless, 
patriotic,  honest  man."  • 

T*  1*  "t*  *1"  ••• 

Judge  James  S.  Botsford,  Civil  War  veteran  and 
oldest  Kansas  City  attorney,  died   November   15th.     Born  i^ 

on  a  farm  in  Wankesha  county,  Wis.,  in  1844,  Mr.  Botsford  J 

gained  his  education  from  the  rural  schools  and  from  the  '^ 

high  school  at  Lisbon,  111.     After  the  war,  in  which  he  served  ^ 

with  distinction,  he  continued  his  study  of  the  law  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illinois  in 
1866.  The  same  year  he  removed  to  Sedalia,  Mo.,  where 
in  1871  he  was  appointed  by  President  Grant  as  United 
States  attorney  for  the  Eastern  district  of  Missouri.  As 
United  States  attorney  Judge  Botsford  won  considerable 
distinction  in  the  prosecution  of  the  famous  "Whiskey  Ring" 
in  St.  Louis.  In  1898  he  was  the  Republican  candidate  for 
judge  of  the  Supreme  court  of  Missouri  but  was  defeated. 
Since  the  removal  of  his  law  office  to  Kansas  City,  Judge 
Botsford  has  for  twelve  years  been  a  lecturer  on  equity 
jurisprudence  in  the  Kansas  City  School  of  Law. 

Hon.  Thomas  H.  Harper,  a  Bates  county  official  and 
representative  died  at  his  home  in  Butler,  Mo.,  Nov.  11, 
1915.  Born  in  Edinburg,  Scotland,  Sept.  19,  1847,  Mr. 
Harper  came  to  this  country  with  his  parents  in  1850  and  grew 
to  manhood  in  St.  Clair  county,  Illinois,  and  Cole  county, 
Missouri.  He  settled  on  a  farm  in  Bates  county.  Mo.,  in 
1881,  and  was  elected  county  clerk  in  1886.  He  represented 
Bates  county  in  the  Missouri  General  Assembly  from  1901 
to  1904. 


140  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

Daniel  M.  Houser,  publisher  of  the  St.  Louis  Globe- 
Democrat,  died  at  his  home  in  St.  Louis,  October  10th.  Born 
in  1834  of  Maryland-German  stock,  Mr.  Houser  came  to 
St.  Louis  when  twelve  years  of  age  and  after  a  few  years 
spent  in  the  public  schools  of  that  city  began  in  the  office 
of  the  old  St.  Louis  Union  a  career  in  the  business  side  of 
journalism  which  was  to  continue  without  interruption  for 
nearly  sixty  years.  As  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Globe- 
Democrat  and  as  active  manager  of  the  paper  since  its  be- 
ginning, Mr.  Houser's  name  will  always  be  associated  with 
that  list  of  other  names  including  Joseph  McCuUough, 
Walter  B.  Stevens,  and  Capt.  Henry  King,  who  made  the 
history  of  the  Globe-Democrat  a  particularly  brilliant  one. 

:|c         :(:         ^         H<         ^ 

Hon.  Russell  M.  Kneisley,  lawyer  and  legislator, 
died  at  his  home  in  Carrollton,  Mo.,  October  15,  1915.  Mr. 
Kneisley  was  born  in  Palmyra,  Mo.,  April  9,  1868,  and  came 
to  Carrollton  with  his  parents  in  1869.  His  education  was 
received  in  the  public  schools.  In  1891  he  devoted  his 
energies  to  athletics  and  in  1892  organized  the  Western 
League  baseball  team  of  St.  Joseph.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Carrollton  in  1894  and  formed  a  partnership  with 
Virgil  Conkling  and  later  with  William  G.  Busby.  Mr. 
Kneisley  represented  Carroll  county  in  the  General  Assembly 
in  1898  and  served  on  several  important  committees.  He 
was  a  prominent  politician  in  the  Democratic  party,  a  force- 
ful speaker  and  a  good  lawyer. 

Col.  John  C.  Moore,  Confederate  soldier,  editor  and 
historian,  died  at  the  home  of  his  son  in  Excelsior  Springs, 
October  27.  Born  August  18,  1831,  in  Pulaski  county, 
Tenn.,  he  came  to  St.  Louis  as  a  boy  and  received  his  early 
education  there.  After  leaving  college  Col.  Moore  crossed 
the  plains  and  located  in  Denver,  where  he  became  the  first 
mayor  of  that  city.  With  a  partner  he  established  the 
Rocky  Mountain  News,  one  of  the  influential  papers  of  the 
West.     When  the  Civil  War  broke  out  he  recrossed  the  plains 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS.  141 

on  horseback  and  joined  a  Confederate  battery,  serving 
successively  as  captain  on  Gen.  Marmaduke's  staff,  as  judge 
advocate  of  Arkansas,  and  as  colonel  under  Gen.  Joe  Shelby. 
Since  his  return  from  Mexico  after  the  overthrow  of  Maximil- 
ian, Col.  Moore  devoted  his  time  to  newspaper  work  and  the 
writing  of  history.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  first 
editors  of  the  Kansas  City  Times,  and  later  of  the  Puehlo 
(Colo.)   Press. 

Hon.  Owen  A.  Nelson,  merchant,  county  ofhcial,  and 
legislator,  died  in  Lebanon,  Mo.,  Sept.  29.  Mr.  Nelson  was 
born  in  Posey  county,  Indiana,  August  29,  1854,  and  came 
to  Camden  county,  Missouri,  in  1868.  He  was  reared  on 
a  farm  and  received  only  a  moderate  education  in  the  public 
schools.  He  served  Camden  county  four  years  as  county 
treasurer,  eight  years  as  county  clerk  and  two  years  as  repre- 
sentative in  the  General  Assembly.  Mr.  Nelson  was  a  man 
of  painstaking  industry  and  of  sterling  honesty. 

Dr.  Cyrus  Asbury  Peterson  died  at  his  home  in  Web- 
ster Groves,  Missouri,  November  19th,  1915.  Born  in 
North  Carolina  and  coming  to  Missouri  at  the  early  age  of 
twelve  years,  he  was  a  resident  of  this  State  for  the  better 
part  of  his  life.  His  father  settled  in  that  portion  of  South- 
east Missouri  where  partisan  feeling  ran  highest  and  was 
bitterest  at  the  outset  of  the  Civil  War.  At  his  most  im- 
pressionable age,  young  Peterson  came  in  contact  with  in- 
fluences which  affected  his  whole  after  life,  and  the  recollec- 
tion of  these  times  was  graven  deep  on  his  memory.  That 
memory  was  tenacious,  it  clung  to  the  smallest  details,  and 
things  he  saw,  heard  or  read  in  early  life  became  with  him  a 
fixed  record.  His  life  up  to  shortly  after  the  age  of  fifteen 
years  is  best  told  in  his  own  words.  The  writer  of  this 
short  sketch  had  often  importuned  him  to  make  a  record  of 
his  recollections,  so  at  length  in  1905  he  began  work  on  them; 
but  invalidism  came  upon  him  shortly  thereafter  and  he  never 
felt  the  inclination  to  complete  his  "Autobiographical 
Sketch."     It  is  therefore  but  a  fragment— a  very  valuable 


142  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

one  though,  for  it  deals  with  his  impressions  as  a  youth, 
when  the  storm  of  clouds  were  gathering  round  Old  Glory.  He 
ends  his  sketch  with  an  account  of  his  part  in  the  defense  of 
Cape  Girardeau  against  an  attack  upon  it  by  Gen.  John  S. 
Marmaduke  with  a  division  of  Confederate  Cavalry.  His 
father,  of  whose  safety  he  had  started  out  on  a  trip  to  assure 
himself,  later  found  him  armed  with  a  musket,  guarding  a 
bridge.  Young  Peterson's  part  in  the  war  was  but  a  minor 
one  but  full  of  excitement  and  danger,  for  that  portion  of 
Missouri  in  which  he  lived,  was  in  a  continual  turmoil  until 
years  after  the  Civil  War  was  over. 

About  the  close  of  the  war,  his  father  moved  with  his 
family  to  Fredericktown,  Madison  County,  Missouri.  Young 
Peterson  farmed  for  a  time,  clerked  in  a  store,  tinkered 
clocks,  peddled  religious  chromos,  and  was  leader  of  the 
Fredericktown  Band.  Later  he  assisted  his  father,  who  was 
at  one  time  Probate  Judge  of  the  County,  and  held  some 
other  official  positions  at  Fredericktown.  In  the  year  1869, 
on  June  6th,  Cyrus  A.  Peterson,  while  serving  as  a  constable, 
endeavored  to  arrest  the  notorious  desperado,  Sam  Hilder- 
brand,  and  they  exchanged  shots,  Hilderbrand  being  shot 
through  the  fleshy  part  of  the  thigh,  and  Peterson  untouched. 
Hilderbrand  escaped  and  lived  to  write  his  well-known 
Autobiography  in  which  he  gave  a  rather  distorted  account  of 
this  and  other  affairs  in  which  he  took  part. 

The  education  of  Mr.  Peterson,  which  had  stopped 
abruptly  before  the  age  of  thirteen,  was  again  taken  up  as 
the  result  of  the  enforced  idleness  caused  by  a  spell  of  typhoid 
fever,  about  the  year  1868  and  the  long  convalescence  fol- 
lowing it.  During  this  period  he  became  in  truth  a  student 
and  continued  as  one  until  the  close  of  his  life.  He  now 
mastered  German  and  Latin  and  prepared  himself  for  ad- 
mission to  the  bar,  but  not  liking  this  profession,  he  declined 
to  practice  law  and  took  up  the  study  of  medicine.  How- 
ever, earning  a  livelihood  came  first,  and  it  was  not  until 
1874  that  he  began  to  study  medicine  in  earnest  under  Dr. 
Louis  J.  Villars  at  Fredericktown,  continuing  during  the  years 
1875,   1876  and   1877.     He  attended  the  Missouri  Medical 


HISTORICAL  NEWS   AND  COMMENTS.  143 

College  during  several  terms,  graduating  there  in  1878  with 
the  degree  of  M.  D.  He  had  practiced  medicine  from  almost 
the  time  when  he  began  his  study  of  it.  He  continued  in 
the  practice  until  1880,  when  his  health  broke  down,  and  he 
was  forced  to  go  to  Nebraska  and  live  for  a  time  on  a  ranch. 
In  the  latter  part  of  this  year,  he  accepted  an  offer  made  him 
by  the  Thiel  Detective  Service  Company  and  entered  their 
employ.  Possessed  of  rare  executive  ability,  and  gifted  with 
a  profound  knowledge  of  men  and  the  motives  which  move 
them,  his  rise  with  this  company  was  rapid  and  in  less  than 
ten  years  he  had  become  their  Assistant  General  Manager. 
About  1892  he  became  Vice  President  of  this  company, 
which  position  he  held  until  his  death. 

On  July  2nd,  1872,  Cyrus  A.  Peterson  married  at  Fred- 
ericktown,  Missouri,  Christina  Alvina  Hartkopf  (born  No- 
vember 11th,  1851),  the  daughter  of  Daniel  Hartkopf,  whose 
acquaintance  he  had  cultivated  from  1868  on,  in  an  effort 
to  perfect  himself  in  conversational  German,  thereby  oc- 
casionally meeting  the  daughter.  Dr.  Peterson  is  survived 
by  his  wife  and  the  following  children:  Darwin  Paine,  born 
August  14th,  1875;  Winona,  born  January  23,  1875;  and 
Tyndall  Humboldt,  born  December  16th,  1878.  One  son 
Julian  IngersoU,  born  June  30th,  1877,  died  November  12th, 
1909. 

Dr.  Peterson  was  possessed  of  a  remarkably  keen, 
analytical  mind,  which  pre-eminently  fitted  him  to  excel  in 
the  sciences,  and  had  he  continued  in  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine, he  would  have  won  fame  and  name  for  himself.  As  it 
was,  all  of  his  spare  hours  were  devoted  to  scientific  study, 
and  he  was  fully  abreast  of  the  times  in  these  matters.  His 
original  research  work  on  the  Indians,  the  Mound  Builders 
and  on  Archeology,  made  him  a  recognized  authority  on 
these  subjects.  He  contributed  many  articles  on  scientific 
matters  to  current  publications  and  published  the  following 
in  pamphlet  form: 

Population  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Rome.  Copyright, 
1898.     Compiled  from  the  most  reliable  sources  and  chro- 


144  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

nologically  arranged.     By  C.  A.  Peterson,  M.  D.  St.  Louis, 
Mo. 

The  Mound  Building  Age  in  North  America.  By  Dr. 
C.  A.  Peterson.  Read  before  the  Missouri  Historical  So- 
ciety, St.  Louis,  Mo.,  February  13th,  1902. 

Narrative  of  the  Capture  and  Murder  of  Major  James 
Wilson.  By  Cyrus  A.  Peterson,  President,  The  Missouri 
Historical  Society.  Read  before  the  Pike  County  His- 
torical Society,  January  26,  1906. 

In  conjunction  with  Joseph  Mills  Hanson,  he  wrote  and 
published  a  volume  entitled  "Pilot  Knob.  The  Thermopylae 
of  the  West.  By  Cyrus  A.  Peterson  and  Joseph  Mills  Hanson, 
New  York.     The  Neale  Publishing  Company.     1914. 

As  Secretary  of  the  Pilot  Knob  Memorial  Association 
he  compiled  and  issued  the  Reports  of  the  Annual  Meetings 
held  on  the  40th,  41st  and  42nd  anniversaries  of  the  Battle 
of  Pilot  Knob. 

During  the  years  1905  and  1906  he  was  President  of  the 
Missouri  Historical  Society  and  did  much  for  the  upbuilding 
of  its  Archaeological  Collections.  He  was  a  Member  of  the 
American  Historical  Association;  Kansas  Historical  Society; 
Texas  Historical  Society;  Ontario  Historical  and  Archaeolo- 
gical Association ;  Wisconsin  Historical  and  Archaeological  As- 
sociation; American  Ornithological  Society;  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and  of  the  American 
Anthropological  Association. 

By  Wm.  Clark  Breckenridge, 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

Father  David  S.  Phelan,  editor  of  the  Western  Watch- 
man, died  at  his  home  in  St.  Louis,  September  21st  at  the 
age  of  73.  Forty-eight  years  ago,  January  1,  1867,  as  a 
country  parish  priest  at  Edina,  Mo.,  Father  Phelan  began 
the  publication  of  the  Western  Watchman,  which  later  grew 
into  one  of  the  most  widely  influential  Catholic  publications 
in  America.  Father  Phelan  was  born  at  Sidney,  Nova 
Scotia,  July  16,  1843.  During  the  past  forty  years  he  has 
been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  Missouri,  both  in  religious  and 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS.  145 

journalistic  circles,  and  the  boldness  and  freedom  of  his 
utterances  frequently  involved  him  in  conflicts  with  the 
hierarchy.  He  was  successively  rebuked  by  the  papal 
delegate,  frowned  upon  by  the  bishop  of  Toledo.  Christian 
Endeavorers  asked  that  he  be  unfrocked,  a  former  arch- 
bishop once  suspended  his  paper  and  the  present  archbishop 
wrote  him  a  letter  of  reproach,  yet  Father  Phelan  continued 
to  speak  his  mind  fully  and  vigorously.  His  pastorate  has 
included  charges  at  Indian  Creek,  Edina,  Pacific,  and  finally 
the  church  of  Our  Lady  of  Mt.  Carmel  in  St.  Louis  where 
he  has  been  pastor  since  1873. 

4:         4:         H:         *         * 

Edward  L.  Preetorius,  president  of  the  German-Amer- 
ican Press  Association  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  St. 
Louis  Times,  died  at  his  home  in  St.  Louis  November  1st. 
Mr.  Preetorius,  who  was  born  in  St.  Louis  in  1866,  was  the 
son  of  the  late  Dr.  Emil  Preetorius,  founder  of  the  Westliche 
Post  and  one  of  the  eminent  early  day  Missouri  journalists. 
Upon  the  death  of  his  father  in  1905,  Mr.  Preetorius  became 
president  of  the  company  publishing  the  Westliche  Post  and 
in  1907  with  the  late  John  Schroers  founded  the  Times,  an 
English  afternoon  paper.  Mr.  Preetorius  was  educated  in 
the  Manual  Training  School  in  St.  Louis  and  Washington 
University,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1884.  In  ad- 
dition to  his  newspaper  activity  Mr.  Preetorius  was  a  member 
of  Governor  Hadley's  staff,  a  recognized  financier  and  an 
active  worker  in  civic  and  social  affairs  of  St.  Louis. 

Hon.  John  D.  Starke,  Missouri  pioneer,  farmer,  poli- 
tician and  legislator,  died  at  his  home  at  Otterville,  Cooper 
county,  Missouri,  on  November  5,  1915.  Born  in  Kanawha 
county,  Va.,  now  a  part  of  W.  Va.,  on  August  3,  1842,  he  was 
brought  to  Cooper  county.  Mo.,  by  his  parents  in  1843. 
He  was  elected  successively  to  the  following  offices  from 
Cooper  county:  Judge  of  the  County  Court,  1880;  Collector, 
1882  and  again  in  1884;  State  Senator,  1890.  Under  Gov. 
Stephens,  1897,  he  was  appointed  warden  of  the  State  Peni- 


146  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

tentiary  at  Jefferson  City.     He  was  a  Democrat  and  a  member 
of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church. 

Hon.  Joseph  Tapley,  lawyer  and  legislator,  died  at  his 
home  in  Bowling  Green,  June  28,  1915.  Mr.  Tapley  was 
born  and  reared  in  Pike  county,  Mo.  He  received  his  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools,  attended  Watson  Seminary  at 
Ashley,  Mo.,  graduated  in  the  Academic  department  of  the 
University  of  Missouri  in  1879,  and  in  the  Law  department 
in  1881.  For  two  years  he  was  a  law  partner  of  Hon.  Champ 
Clark  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  was  a  practicing  lawyer 
at  Bowling  Green.  He  represented  Pike  county  in  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  in  1901  and  made  a  creditable  record.  He  was 
a  Democrat,  a  Mason  and  a  Methodist. 

GENERAL. 

Champ  Clark:  To  be  officially  selected  as  the  greatest 
living  Missourian  was  the  unusual  distinction  conferred 
September  30th  upon  Hon.  Champ  Clark,  Speaker  of  the 
National  House  of  Representatives.  The  selection  of  the 
State's  most  distinguished  citizen  was  made  by  Gov.  Elliott 
W.  Major  in  response  to  a  request  from  President  Charles 
Moore,  of  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  at  San  Francisco. 

During  the  course  of  an  address  to  an  audience  of  Mis- 
sourians,  assembled  in  Sedalia  on  Governor's  Day  at  the 
State  Fair,  Gov.  Major  made  public  his  choice  of  Mr.  Clark. 
In  notifying  Mr.  Clark  of  his  selection  Gov.  Major  sent  the 
following  message: 

"The  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition  has  requested 
me,  as  Chief  Executive  of  the  State,  to  name  the  greatest  living 
Missourian.  It  give  me  pleasure  to  advise  that  I  have  this  day 
named  you  as  the  greatest  living  Missourian. 

"I,  perhaps  know  you  personally,  and  your  character  and  life 
work  better  than  any  other  man  in  public  life. 

"You  merit  this  tribute  by  reason  of  your  achievements,  the 
splendid  service  you  have  rendered  both  state  and  nation,  and  the 
honors  and  distinction  bestowed  upon  you  by  an  appreciative 
people. 

EUiott   W.    Major, 

Governor. 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS.  147 

In  reply  Mr.  Clark  on  October  9th  sent  from  Montgomery 
City  a  letter  of  thanks  and  appreciation,  in  which  he  said : 

"My  dear  Governor:  I  am  profoundly  grateful  to  you  for  the 
high  and  unusual  honor  you  conferred  upon  me  by  naming  me  the 
greatest  Missourian.  To  be  selected  from  among  so  many  illustrious 
Missourians  goes  straight  to  my  heart.  Perhaps  your  affection 
misled  your  judgment. 

"No  doubt,  however,  your  partiality  for  me  will  be  forgiven 
by  the  generous  people  of  Missouri  when  they  remember  that  our 
friendly  association  is  of  long  standing,  beginning  in  the  kindly 
and  close  relation  of  teacher  and  pupil. 

"I  take  it  that  when  you  were  reading  law  in  my  office,  if  some 
prophet  had  made  bold  to  predict  that,  in  this  blessed  year  you 
would  be  Governor  of  imperial  Missouri  and  I  Speaker  of  the  Na- 
tional House  of  Representatives,  he  would  have  been  in  imminent 
danger  of  being  clapped  into  a  straightjacket  and  a  padded  cell. 

"Thank  God  ascent  to  high  places  is  possible  for  the  poorest 
boy  in  the  land  under  our  benign  institutions,  for  no  boys  are  poorer 
than  were  you  and  I. 

"Your  friendly  act  aroused  in  my  mind  many  fond  memories 
of  the  time  when  you  and  I  were  living  the  simple  life  among  the 
best  of  people. 

"After  all  is  said,  'there  is  no  friend  like  the  old  friend  who  has 
shared  our  morning  days,  no  welcome  like  his  greeting,  no  homage 
like  his  praise;  fame  is  the  scentless  sunflower  with  gaudy  crown  of 
gold,  but  friendship  is  the  breathing  rose  with  sweet  in  every  fold.' 

"Again  thanking  you  and  invoking  Heaven's  richest  blessing 
upon  my  old  pupil  and  his  wife  and  children. 

Your  friend, 

Champ  Clark." 

Missouri  Press  Association:  More  than  three  hundred 
and  fifty  Missouri  newspaper  men  met  in  St.  Joseph  Sept. 
16-17th  for  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Missouri  Press  Asso- 
ciation. The  need  of  a  new  State  constitution  was  one  of 
the  topics  which  came  up  for  discussion  and  though  the  asso- 
ciation did  not  commit  itself  to  a  definite  policy,  a  majority 
of  the  newspaper  men  pledged  themselves  to  work  for  a  new 
constitution.  J.  Kelly  Pool,  editor  of  the  Centralia  Courier, 
was  chosen  president  of  the  association.  The  meeting  will 
be  in  Joplin  next  year. 


148  MISSOURI   HISTORICAL   REVIEW. 

The  Boone  Monument:  Historic,  patriotic  and  worthy 
of  Missouri  was  the  celebration  held  at  Marthasville,  Mo., 
on  Friday,  October  29th,  when  a  monument  erected  to  Daniel 
and  Rebecca  Boone  was  unveiled  and  dedicated.  The  cele- 
bration was  the  work  of  the  Missouri  D.  A.  R.,  and  the 
people  of  Marthasville  and  Warren  county.  Over  two 
thousand  persons  were  present  and  an  interesting  program 
was  given.  The  monument  was  unveiled  by  Mrs.  Mark  S. 
Salisbury,  State  Regent  of  the  D.  A.  R.  The  marker 
stands  about  seven  feet  high,  on  a  knoll  overlooking  a  beautiful 
scope  of  country.  On  the  granite  monument,  which  was 
mined  near  Wright  City,  Mo.,  is  a  bronze  tablet  which  bears 
the  following  inscription:  "Daniel  Boone,  born  in  Bucks 
county,  Pennsylvania,  February  11,  1735;  died  in  Warren 
county,  1820;  and  wife,  Rebecca  Bryan,  born  1727;  died  in 
March,  1813.  Removed  to  Frankford,  Ky.,  1845."  The 
tablet  also  bears  in  bas  relief  a  picture  of  Daniel  Boone, 
and  the  coat  of  arms  of  his  family  and  of  the  D.  A.  R.  The 
address  of  the  day  was  delivered  by  Hon.  E.  W.  Stephens, 
of  Columbia,  Mo.  Other  speakers  were  Hon.  John  L. 
RoBards  of  Hannibal;  George  T.  Bryan,  of  Dawson  Springs, 
Ky.;  and  Jesse  P.  Crump,  of  Independence,  Mo.  The 
latter  two  are  descendants  of  the  Boones. 

Diamond  Jubilee  of  the  German  Evangelical  Synod  of 
North  America: 

On  October  15,  1915,  over  three  hundred  thousand 
persons  in  the  United  States  celebrated  the  seventy-fifth 
anniversary  of  the  organization  of  the  German  Evangelical 
Synod,  which  had  its  birth  in  Missouri.  In  a  little  wildwood 
church  at  a  place  now  called  Mehlville,  six  ministers — four 
residents  in  Missouri  and  two  in  Illinois — organized  "The 
German  Evangelical  Church  Association  of  the  West." 
This  organization,  erroneously  associated  in  popular  thought 
with  the  Lutheran  Church,  grew  into  "The  German  Evan- 
gelical Synod  of  North  America,"  a  denomination  with  more 
than  one  thousand  pastors  and  three  hundred  thousand 
communicants.     While  of  American  origin,  founded  on  Mis- 


HISTORICAL  NEWS  AND  COMMENTS.  149 

souri  soil,  the  Synod  had  its  roots  in  the  old  Fatherland. 
Although  not  founded  by  The  Evangelical  Church  of  Ger- 
many, its  first  ministers  and  members  had  formerly  belonged 
to  that  denomination.  The  fathers  of  the  new  church  were 
Karl  Louis  Daubert,  of  Quincy,  III.;  Edward  Louis  NoUau, 
of  Gravois  Settlement,  Mo.;  John  Jacob  Riess,  of  Center- 
ville,  111.;  Herman  Garlichs,  of  Femme  Osage,  Mo.;  Philip 
Jacob  Heyer,  of  St.  Charles,  Mo.;  and  George  W.  Hall,  of 
St.  Louis,  Mo.  All  except  Daubert  had  been  preaching  the 
gospel  for  years,  principally  among  the  Germans  in  Missouri 
and  Illinois.  German  immigration  to  these  states  and 
especially  to  the  former  had  already  set  in  on  a  large  scale 
by  1840  and  large  communities  of  Germans  had  settled  in 
St.  Charles,  Warren  and  several  other  counties.  Owing  to 
the  glowing  accounts  of  the  Missouri  Valley  published  in 
Germany  and  especially  to  the  fascinating  description  of 
Missouri's  soil  and  climate  by  Dr.  Gottfreed  Duden,  hun- 
dreds of  Germans  from  Germany  and  from  the  eastern  United 
States  poured  into  the  new  State.  Industrious,  thrifty,  pious 
people,  there  was  lacking  but  one  great  factor  to  make  life 
complete.  This  was  religious  organization  and  especially 
ministers.  This  need  was  partly  supplied  at  first  by  the 
Basel  Missionary  Society  and  the  Rhenish  Missionary  Society. 
The  ministers  sent  to  Missouri  from  the  old  country,  soon 
appreciated  the  necessity  of  organization.  The  result  was 
the  organization  in  the  Gravois  Settlement  near  St.  Louis 
of  what  is  today  the  Synod  of  North  America. 

V 


f 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  STATE 

HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

OF  MISSOURI. 


The  Missouri  Historical  Review  (in  numbers.) 

Vol.  1,  1906-07 $4.00 

Vols.  2,  3,  and  6,  each 3.00 

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Vols.  7,  8,  and  9,  each , 1.00 

Proceedings  of  second  meeting,  1903 36  cents 

Six  Biennial  Reports,  each 25  cents 

Reprints  from  Review: 

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Hon.  Wm.  P.  Boriand,  Address  on  Gen.  Jo.  Shelby. 

James  S.  Botsford,  Administration  of  Gov.  McClurg. 

Capt.  Geo.  S.  Grover,  The  Shelby  Raid,  1863. 

The  Price  Campaign  of  1864. 

Col.  "Warner  Lewis,  Civil  War  Reminiscences. 

Mrs.  S.  A.  A.  McCausland,  Battle  of  Lexington  as  Seen  by  a  Woman. 

Judge  H.  C.  McDougal,  A  Decade  of  Missouri  Politics, 

Dr.  Joseph  A.  Mudd,  What  I  Saw  at  Wilson's  Creek. 

Judge  Jno.  F.  Philips,  Administration  of  Gov.  Gamble. 

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,  Bibliography  of  Missouri  Biography. 

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H.  A.  Trexler,  Value  and  Sale  of  Missouri  Slave. 

F.  H.  Hodder,  Some  Lights  on  Missouri  Compromise. 

Jno.  L.  Thomas,  Some  Historical  Lives  of  Missouri. 

P.  O.  Ray,  Retirement  of  Senator  Benton. 

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Eduard  Zimmermann,  Travel  in  Missouri  In  October,  1838. 

DarUng  K.  Gregor,  Garland  Carr  Broadhead. 

Joseph  A.  Mudd,  Cabell  Descendants  in  Missouri. 

Mary  G.  Brown,  Carroll  County  Marriage  Record,  1833-1852. 

F.  F.  Stephens,  Nathaniel  Patten,  Pioneer  Editor. 

Harmony  Missouri  from  Morse's  Report. 

(Mrs.  W.  J.)  Harriet  V.  Rowley,  Pike  County  Marriage  Record,  1818-1837. 

Walter  B.  Stevens,  Lincoln  and  Missoxu*i.     (75  cents) 


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